One of the two soldiers killed in Centrafrica was native of Angers

Antoine Le Quinio (right) 

One of the two French sodiers killed on December 9th in Bangui the Centra-frican capital was native from Angers. Antoine Le Quinio, a 1st class para-trooper born in 1991, was, with others soldiers, patrolling in the city, when, few before mid-night, his detachment was caught under the fire, and himself woun-ded. He died during the following hours as another comrade in arms, Nicolas Vokaer.

Antoine Le Quinio, single and without children,

had entered in a five years commitment in Angers after he got a degree in the mana-gement of automatic production devices. He was killed by militiamen of the former Sekela, a rebel army which demands the departure of the Centrafrican president and of the government. The purpose of the military operation launched by France aims to desarm those rebels. And the two losses took place during a search implemented by French soldiers in Bangui. Antoine Le Quinio and his comrade were transferred to the military hopsital inside the M'Poko airport where they died. Before he was sent to Centrafrica in December 2012, Antoine le Quinio was in Gabon.

Credit pictures : French defense ministry

Those two soldiers are the first killed after the operation Sangaris was decided to restablish order in the country. The French president, François Hollande, in a press release, has sent his condolences to the families and the relatives of the two men and ensured them of the "solidarity of the nation", reminding "that these soliders were there to protect civilians and ensure the delivery of the humanitarian assistance". On his side, the Angers mayor, Frédéric Béatse express his sadness after he learnt that news