This kidnapping could mean two different terrorist groups are working together for the first time, when they are fighting each other elsewhere

French commandos rescued four foreign hostages including two French citizens from a militant group in Burkina Faso, France's military said on Friday, adding that two of the elite soldiers were killed in the night-time operation. The French military had been tracking the gang of hostage-takers across the arid terrain of eastern Burkina Faso for days before deciding to launch the night-time rescue mission that would cost the lives of two commandos. Since May 1, when two French tourists went missing in a wildlife park in neighbouring Benin, French soldiers and Special Forces from the regional Barkhane force had swung into action in the hunt for their kidnappers.