DAKAR (Reuters) – Two Senegalese soldiers have been killed and nine have been doubtless taken hostage after they went missing throughout preventing with separatist rebels in neighbouring Gambia, Senegal’s military stated on Tuesday.
One insurgent from the Movement of Democratic Forces for Casamance (MFDC) was additionally killed and three captured by Senegalese forces within the preventing on Monday, a military assertion stated.
“The nine missing soldiers are in all probability held hostage by the MFDC. Operations are ongoing to search out them and safe the zone.”
The soldiers have been monitoring timber trafficking as a part of a multinational power in Gambia, which is bordered on three sides by Senegal.
The MFDC was shaped in 1982 to struggle for independence for Senegal’s southern area of Casamance, which borders Gambia.
The motion has been largely dormant since a ceasefire in 2014 however has been blamed by the Senegalese authorities for infrequent assaults since then and continues to finance itself via timber trafficking between Senegal and Gambia.
(Reporting by Diadie Ba; writing by Aaron Ross, modifying by Mark Heinrich)
