French armed forces have reported that dozens of Islamist militants from groups operating in northern Burkina Faso have been killed in a number of engagements.

In a statement released on Twitter on Sunday, the military said: "The Barkhane force and the armed forces of Burkina Faso conducted a joint operation in northern Burkina from January 15 to 23. About 60 terrorists were neutralized. The fight against armed groups continues."

Jihadis killed in four incidents

According a statement released on Sunday, the French military said that "various terrorist groups were located, identified and neutralized by Burkinabe forces and Barkhane units."

The engagements with the jihadi groups, which are fighting an insurgency in the Sahel region, took place in the week before a military junta seized control of the West African country.

Airstrikes also targeted motorcycles and pickup trucks reportedly loaded with weapons.

On January 16, a patrol engaged fighters in the Gorom-Gorom area in the north.

Burkinabe forces equipped with advanced guidance systems were able to direct airstrikes on January 17 and 18, and destroyed a militant convoy near the border with Mali.

On January 23, an operation involving fighter aircraft and drones targeted a group of fighters and destroyed a dozen motorcycles.

Sahel insurgency

France has been leading the joint force deployment of Operation Barkhane involving over 5,000 French troops. They are joined by soldiers from Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.

Last year, France's President Emmanuel Macron announced that French involvement in the operation would end in the first quarter of 2022.

Operation Barkhane is a joint counterinsurgency operation targeting Islamist groups in the Sahel region. However, a war of attrition has plunged a number of African states into political turmoil.

Burkina Faso has become the latest in the region to fall under military control, joining Mali, Guinea and Chad, where militaries toppled their countries' governments in 2021.

In the case of Burkina Faso, the military said one reason it ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kabore was growing frustration with the government's inability to contain violence perpetrated by religious fundamentalist groups.

New strongman Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, in his first public address since the putsch last week, seemed to make an appeal for international security forces to stay and continue to help, saying the country's military "needs its partners more than ever." 

Damiba acknowledged that his takeover raised "legitimate doubts," but promised to "respect international commitments, notably with respect to human rights," and claimed that the courts would remain independent. 

Security forces and civilians alike have been killed there in attacks since 2015.

kb/msh (AFP, dpa)