The French Army claims to have killed dozens of rebel fighters in Burkina Faso through a series of aerial attacks. Officials said the fighters were involved in the deadly attacks in neighboring Benin, which included the death of a French national.
The army's general command said the French-led Barkhane forces engaged a rebel group in the Sahel region. Air reconnaissance missions were deployed to track down and identify the armed group believed to be responsible for the attacks last week. Once they were located, Barkhane forces launched aerial strikes, which reportedly killed at least 40 fighters.
Officials said the group crossed the border of Burkina Faso from Benin on motorcycles. A drone was dispatched and engaged the group, killing 12 men. Additional jets were then scrambled to engage the remaining men in three separate airstrikes. Officials claimed to have "neutralized" more than 30 "terrorists" during the engagements.
The same armed group was reportedly responsible for the deaths of nine people last week in two separate attacks on park rangers in Benin's W National Park and Wildlife Reserve. One of those killed was a French national traveling near the remote northern region near the country's border with Niger.
The Frenchman was working as a trainer and traveled with five park rangers, a park official, and one soldier. The men were killed by two roadside bombs that detonated as they passed by a remote trail last week Tuesday. Two days later, a park official was killed by another explosion.
Officials said the Frenchman was a 50-year-old citizen that was living in Benin. African Parks, the company that ran the wildlife reserve, said the French national was working at the park as its "chief law enforcement instructor."
Late last week, French officials said they were launching an investigation into the "terrorist" attacks. Burkina Faso is currently being ruled by its military following a coup last month. It is the latest West African country to fall under military rule.
Benin has long been one of the more peaceful countries in West Africa, where al-Qaeda and Islamic State terrorists threaten Sahel countries. However, the nation has recently been the target of a number of assaults.
France has led Operation Barkhane, a multinational operation targeting Islamist extremists in the Sahel region. The initiative includes soldiers from Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and more than 5,000 French forces.
Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron said that his country's participation in the operation would expire in the first quarter of 2022.
