French commando killed in failed Somalia hostage rescue operation: Report

Militants in Somalia say they have killed a French commando involved in a botched operation to free a French hostage.

Four French helicopters conducted an air raid on a house in the town of Bulomarer, nearly 110 kilometres (70 miles) south of the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses told AFP on Saturday.

Sheikh Mohamed Abdallah, a local commander in Bulomarer, controlled by al-Shabab fighters, said that they “defeated the so-called commandos of the French government who tried to rescue a hostage, and they (the commandos) left the bodies of several of their own at the site of the attack.”

People in the area saw several bodies, including that of a white man and three civilians, said Idris Youssouf, a resident of the town, hours after the failed midnight operation.