A 27-year-old French legionnaire, trained in survival techniques for hostile environments killed four people in Chad before fleeing through the southern Sahara on horseback.
Military sources are reported to have said that the private is armed and has a psychological problem. The dead include two fellow legionnaires, a Togolese soldier attached to the UN peacekeeping mission and a Chadian farmer from whom he stole a horse.
A large-scale helicopter search is underway, however, tree cover is sufficient to provide concealment by day. Local people in the area have been warned not to travel due to the danger of running into the man. His escape route has taken him over the rocky terrain between Abeche and Guereda in north-eastern Chad in the direction of the Sudan border.
An anonymous source from the French Military stated:
We teach them to last several days in difficult conditions and he will be better equipped than a cadet fresh out of university, but we’re not talking about Rambo, or the type you see in certain films.
[The Age]
