REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BAMAKO -- French forces have carried out two night-time counter-terrorism operations in rebel-infested northern Mali, military sources in the west African nation said on Thursday.

A foreign military source in Bamako said troops targeted the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and the Signatories in Blood, an armed unit founded by fugitive jihadist commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar.

"We do not have a death toll yet... It is clear that MUJAO fighters, heirs of Abou Zeid and Belmokhtar's (unit) are in the viewfinder," he said.

"They are trying to rebuild. Perhaps they even have military equipment from Libya," he told AFP, adding that the operations were still ongoing on Thursday morning.