Parly said French forces in the Sahel region had killed "four terrorists" in an operation in northern Mali on June 5, including Bayes Ag Bakabo, the prime suspect in the deaths of RFI radio reporters Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon.

"His neutralisation means the end of a long wait," Parly said, adding that Bakabo was in the village of Aguelhok and was preparing an attack against UN peacekeeping forces.

Dupont and Verlon, both in their 50s and veteran journalists for RFI, were seized in the flashpoint northern Malian town of Kidal in November 2013 after interviewing a separatist Tuareg leader.

Their bullet-riddled bodies were found few hours later, with the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group later claiming the killings as revenge for France's decision to intervene against jihadist groups in the country earlier that year.

A French investigation into the murders concluded that Bakabo, also a known drug trafficker, drove the pick-up truck used to kidnap the two journalists.

Parly expressed her "thoughts for the family and loved ones of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon."

She said the operation "illustrates one of the main priorities of France in the Sahel region: taking down the main heads of terrorist groups that are causing havoc in the region."

- French withdrawal -

The news of Bakabo's death emerged just a day after French President Emmanuel Macron announced a drawdown of French troops in the Sahel region, who number 5,100 in bases across the arid and volatile region on the southern fringe of the Sahara desert.

Macron did not give figures for the drawdown, but he made clear he wanted future French involvement to be limited to counter-terror operations and be part of a multi-nation European force.

"The objective stays the same: France remains committed to the fight against international terrorism, besides Sahelian countries and for the security of Europe and French people," Parly said.

The Sahel is seen by many Western politicians and experts as a major global security risk because of the growing strength of jihadist groups there, as well as its role as a crossroads for arms and people-smuggling.

Journalists covering the insurgency in the Sahel often find themselves targeted by armed groups, either because of their reporting or for their ransom value.

French reporter Olivier Dubois, 46, disappeared in April and is believed to be in the hands of the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM), the biggest jihadist alliance in the Sahel.

The 46-year-old freelancer was in the northern Malian town of Gao, where he had travelled to interview a Qaeda-linked jihadist commander.

Last year, French soldiers serving in the Barkhane force killed the head of AQIM, Abdelmalek Droukdel, in a major breakthrough, while regular air strikes target other senior commanders.

Another senior AQIM figure linked to the murder of the RFI journalists, Amada Ag Hama, was killed in a raid in northern Mali in May 2015.