French soldiers have killed about 40 Islamist fighters, including some senior commanders, in Mali in recent weeks, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Thursday, reports GlobalPost.
"We have conducted operations over the past weeks," Le Drian said, adding that "about 40" fighters had been killed including "Ould Hamaha, a historic leader of AQIM," or Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Omar Ould Hamaha, known as "Red Beard", was a commander of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and AQIM, armed groups which occupied northern Mali for almost ten months in 2012.
Read more of the AFP report published by GlobalPost.