Two killed in New Caledonia during French security forces operation
Two men were killed during a French security forces operation in New Caledonia overnight, raising the death toll to 13 after four months of unrest. Clashes continue in Saint Louis, a stronghold of the independence movement south of Noumea, as tensions persist in the French Pacific territory.
Security forces in New Caledonia killed two men during an overnight operation, the public prosecutor said Thursday, taking the death toll to 13 after months of unrest in the French Pacific territory.
An AFP journalist witnessed clashes erupt between French police and civilians in Saint Louis, a heartland of the independence movement just south of the capital Noumea.
Public prosecutor Yves Dupas said security forces on an observation mission fired two shots after being "directly threatened by a group of armed individuals".
The first "hit a man, aged 30, positioned as a lone gunman, in the right side of the abdomen," Dupas said in a statement.
"The second shot hit a man, aged 29, in the chest."
Police were looking for around a dozen people suspected of involvement in attacks on security forces.
"We're not terrorists, we're not in a state of war," said one mother in the village where the security operation was taking place.
Unrest broke out in mid-May in New Caledonia over Paris's plan for voting reforms that Indigenous Kanak people fear would leave them in a permanent minority, crushing their hopes for independence.
Only emergency services and ambulances can otherwise cross into the village.
(AFP)
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