French forces have killed four militants in northern Mali, two of whom were suspected leaders of al-Qaeda branches active in the Maghreb region.
Hamada Ag Hama, known as Abdelkrim le Touareg, and Ibrahim Ag Inawalen were both killed during operations on Sunday night, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.
It described the two as "important terrorist bosses" belonging to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, and Ansar Dine.
France has troops deployed in multiple African countries with about 3,000 personnel stationed in the Sahel. It intervened in Mali during a 2013 conflict between insurgent groups.
AQIM aims to overthrow the Algerian government and institute an Islamic state.
It traces its origins to guerilla resistance to Algerian secularism in the 1990s.
The UN mission in Mali last year confirmed that an AQIM cell was believed to be located in northern Mali.
It was believed the group included non-Malian nationals, possibly insurgents from Somalia, Chad and Tunisia as well as a man with dual citizenship from Morocco and Spain.
Share
