Fifty jihadists neutralized in Mali – French general staff

The French Barkhane force has neutralized recently about fifty jihadists in central Mali, announced the French General Staff.
Between February 9 and 17, Barkhane carried out several operations in central Mali around the town of Mopti, enabling the force to neutralize fifty jihadists, destroy around thirty motorcycles and two pickups, and seize weapons, phones and electronic equipment, the General Staff said in a press release.
Barkhane launched airstrikes with drones, Mirage 2000 jet and helicopters in the first operation, on February 9 and 10, northwest of Mopti, that enabled to neutralize around twenty armed combatants, including a member of the Islamic state in the Grand Sahara, designated by the French army as the number one enemy in the Sahel.
The terror group is still recruiting in the area. At the end of January, a video filmed in Nampala, not far from the Mauritanian border, showed around sixty people pledging allegiance to IS.
A second French operation, carried out Feb. 16 and 17 south of Mopti, put out of combat thirty jihadists