Two French soldiers were killed after their armoured vehicle was hit by an explosive device in Mali, the French president's office said on Wednesday, reports FRANCE 24.
"It is with great sorrow that the President of the Republic learned of the death in combat of two soldiers from first regiment of Valence, killed this morning in Mali in an improvised explosive device attack on their armoured vehicle,” said a statement released by the Élysée presidential office.
France has deployed around 4,000 French troops in the West Africa's Sahel region as part of Operation Barkhane aimed at tackling Islamist militants in the region.
The Sahel region with its huge expanse of remote desert is home to several jihadist groups. The area has seen several armed attacks on targets in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast in recent years.
France began a military intervention in Mali in January 2013 to drive out al Qaeda-linked militants who hijacked a rebellion in 2012 by ethnic Tuaregs and attempted to take control of the central government in Bamako.
The French soldiers’ deaths came as the EU is set to double its funding for a joint African military force to fight jihadists in the Sahel region with a 50-million-euro boost, news agency AFP reported Wednesday citing EU sources.
Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.