#commando raid

Army & Air Force Team Up to Support BRAC

Abandoned hospital at George Air Force Base, shuttered during BRAC 1992, photo by slworking2, some rights reserved. Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the Internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff. The vice chiefs of the Army and Air Force threw their…

Islamist captors of a French military agent killed him during a French commando raid in Somalia, the French Defense Minstry said Saturday. An additional two French commando and 17 Islamists also died in the fighting.

French soldier killed in failed Somali raid

Gen. Martin Klotz, a spokesman for the ministry, declined to provide details of the overnight operation aimed at rescuing spy service agent Denis Allex – the code-name for the agent who was kidnapped by the militant Islamist group al-Shabaab in Mogadishu, the capital, in 2009.

His Somali captors, however, claim they are holding Allex alive.

“(Denis) Allex still remains safe and far from the location of the battle,” al-Shabaab said in a news release. “As a response to this botched rescue operation by the French forces, (the Shabaab) assures the French people that it will give its final verdict regarding the fate of Denis Allex within two days.”

Residents of the town of Bulomarer described a noisy scene of explosions and gunfire. An al-Shabaab official said that fighting began after helicopters dropped off French soldiers.

“Five helicopters attacked a house in the town. They dropped soldiers off the ground, so that they could reach their destination… but fighting has broken out,” he said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.