The Moroccan army has reportedly received three Israeli-made Heron reconnaissance aircraft, which were sold to the Arab nation through France.

Nearly 20 civilians have lost their lives in an overnight attack by suspected Takfiri militants on a village in northeastern Burkina Faso, officials say.

France says it will deploy 600 more soldiers to combat terrorist groups in Africa's Sahel region, increasing its troop numbers based there to 5,100.

Some 9.4 million people are projected to be in immediate need of assistance in 16 countries analyzed in the region.

Eighteen terrorists are killed in an attempted attack on a police base in the volatile north of Burkina Faso, authorities say.

West African leaders have announced a one-billion-dollar plan to combat the growing threat of Takfiri terrorism and violence in the region.

With bloody violence indiscriminately wiping out half of a Dogon village in a brutal attack that has all the hallmarks of a tit-for-tat ethnic violence, the conflicts in Mali are spiraling ever upwards.

Allied French and Malian forces have killed 20 militants in an operation in a part of northern Mali where Daesh operates.

Six people have been killed in the latest attacks by militants in Burkina Faso.

The UN's spokesman in Mali has condemned the killing of at least eight UN peacekeepers in a "vile and criminal attack."