At least 51 soldiers were killed in an ambush by suspected jihadists in northern Burkina Faso, the army said on Monday, adding that 160 of the assailants died during counter-attacks.
The ambush took place on Friday in Oudalan province near the restive frontier with Mali and Burkina Faso.
By the end of Monday, “43 new bodies had been found, bringing the provisional death toll to 51 soldiers”, the army said in a statement.
Those fatalities were added to an earlier toll of eight soldiers, given by the army on Monday morning.
“Operations are continuing with an intensification of air actions that have made it possible to neutralise around 100 terrorists and destroy their equipment,” the military added.
“This figure is in addition to the 60 or so terrorists neutralised since the beginning of the response,” it added.
Burkina Faso is battling a jihadist insurgency that spread from neighbouring Mali in 2015.
The violence has led to more than 10,000 deaths, according to estimates by NGOs, and displaced some two million people
