French President Emmanuel Macron announced Saturday that French forces had killed 33 militants in Mali.
He announced the operation was conducted by French Barkhane forces in the central Mopti region of Mali and two Malian soldiers were rescued.
Macron is visiting Ivory Coast to celebrate Christmas with French troops and said that Paris would work to give “new force” to the fight against Islamist militants in Africa’s Sahel region.
The Jihadist insurgency in several poor Sahel nations will be a top item on Macron’s agenda in his 48-hour stay in a region where attacks have spread since the Islamist militancy began seven years ago in Mali.
France intervened in Mali in 2013 after jihadist insurgents overran the northern part of the country.
