French forces backed by Malian forces have killed 10 suspected Islamist terrorists during a special operation in the north of the country.

According to the French army spokesman, Gilles Jaron, the militants were sported by drone in the mountainous Adrar des Ifoghas region.

He said French paratroopers and Malian special force in the special division dispatched to area leading to long hours of assault with the militants.

“This shows that there are a number of jihadist networks that are seeking to hide out and launch surprise attacks” Mr. Jaron said.

French Defence Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters in Paris that spokesman Gilles Jaron has briefed him on the operation before the assault.

“We discovered about a dozen jihadists that were handling rocket launchers around a weapons’ cache in the Adrar area, I was briefed before the operation”, Mr. Le Drian said.

Local reporters say it was one of the first successful missions by the US made Reaper unarmed surveillance drones which France bought from the US for its operations.

A French-led offensive in January 2013 drove out Islamist militants who had seized control of northern Mali as a result of a coup de tat that brought the security of the country to its worse form. The coup was staged by General Amadou Sanogo.

But Small groups of fighters loyal to Islamist groups including the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb still operate in the desert region, carrying out periodic attacks on security officials.

The United Nations has a 12,000-strong force in Mali as France begin winding down its troop presence in Mali to 1,000 soldiers to provide technical assistance to the UN forces from the African Union.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News

Writer’s Email Address: Adamsisska@googlemail.com

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