France said on Monday it had killed a top official from Islamic State's affiliate in West Africa in an operation in Mali. Another member of the group and two civilians were also killed in the operation.
France's Defense Ministry issued a statement saying Mohamed Ag Almouner had been killed and that he was one of the top Islamic State officials in the Greater Sahara. It did not name the second member of the group who was killed.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for a knife attack in a Paris suburb last Thursday that killed one person and wounded two others. The group said one of its members had carried out the assault, but provided no evidence.
An online statement from the group's Amaq news agency said the attacker was an "Islamic State fighter."
The Defense Ministry said two civilians – a woman and a teenager – were also killed in the operation, which was carried out on Sunday. Two other civilians and a member of Islamic State's affiliate group were also injured, the statement said.
It said it regretted the civilians' deaths.
France has deployed around 4,000 French troops in West Africa's Sahel region as part of Operation Barkhane, aimed at fighting Islamist terrorists in the region.
