French and Malian troops killed around 30 militants during a gunbattle near the border with Niger, the French army said on Thursday. Spokesman Colonel Patrik Steiger confirmed that Malian forces sustained "losses" but there were no French casualties. Soldiers from France’s Barkhane force and Malian troops were on a reconnaissance mission 90 km (56 miles) south of Menaka on Sunday when they encountered several dozen extremist militants, some on motorcycles, the Colonel added, according to Reuters. French commandos and Malian forces began a "reconnaissance and control operation" in the Akabar region on March 28, AFP reported Steiger as saying. "On April 1, they were confronted by an armed terrorist group, estimated to number 60 individuals, around 90 kilometres (55 miles) south of Menaka and three kilometres from the Nigerien border," he said. France intervened militarily in Mali in 2013 to help government forces drive al-Qaeda-linked militants out of the north.