New airborne operation by engineer paratroopers of French Army on Tessalit airport in Mali 1002132

Ten days after the repair of the trackway in Timbuktu airport, a new airborne operation was conducted in the city of Tessalit, captured during the night of 8 February by French Special Forces.

Around 6h in the morning, Saturday, February 9, 2013, 10 engineer paratroopers with one power generator, one tractor-loader vehicle TC 910 and other military equipment were dropped over the airport of Tessalit. Nearly 14 tons of equipment with food and water were delivered for ground forces.

The operation was carried out by two Transall C-160 and one C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft left from Abidjan, the command center of French army paratroopers for Operation Serval, where soldiers of the 17e RGP (17th Engineer Airborne Regiment) and 1er RTP (1st Airborne Supply Regiment) are located.

After a jump without any problem and a few minutes after the tractor-loader vehicle TC 910 was deconditioned, the engineer paratroopers started the cleaning and the repair of Tessalit airport trackway.

The security of the suburbs and the airport of Tessalit is ensured by soldiers of French Special Forces and troops from the 1er RCP (1st Parachute Chasseur Regiment).