French soldiers killed in Mali and Somalia today

A busy and sad day for France.  In Mali, a French helicopter pilot was killed, probably from small arms fire.  French, Nigerian, and Senegalese troops have retaken the central Malian town of Konna.

This video gives a pretty good overview of the situation.  Starting at 1:00, there are good maps and footage of asshats destroying Timbuktu.  At 4:00, there is a map of the French bases in Africa.

In Somalia, French commandos failed to free a French intelligence agent who has been held hostage for three years.  One commando was killed and another was captured.