PARIS: French forces have killed dozens of fighters in Burkina Faso linked to deadly attacks this week in neighbouring Benin whose victims included a Frenchman, the army said. The French-led Barkhane force in the Sahel region “engaged its air intelligence capacities to locate the armed group” responsible for the attacks, before carrying out air attacks that killed 40 fighters, the army’s general command said. The Frenchman had been among nine people killed this week in two attacks on park rangers in the W National Park, a wildlife reserve in Benin’s remote north bordering troubled Niger and Burkina Faso. Two roadside bombs killed five park rangers, one park official, one soldier and a French trainer on Tuesday, according to a Beninese government toll. –Agencies
