French forces have killed dozens of rebels in Burkina Faso linked to deadly attacks last week in neighboring Benin, whose victims included a Frenchman.

Burkina Faso’s army general said, the French-led force in the Sahel region engaged its air intelligence capacities to locate the armed group responsible for the attacks, before carrying out air attacks that killed 40 fighters.

The Frenchman had been among nine people killed last week in two attacks on park rangers in the W National Park, a wildlife reserve in Benin’s remote north, bordering troubled Niger and Burkina Faso.

Two roadside bombs killed five park rangers, one park official, one soldier and a French trainer last Tuesday.