Three jihadists escaped from prison last Sunday in Mauritania were killed and a fourth captured in the north of the country during an operation during which a gendarme was also killed, the government announced on Saturday in a press release.
The operation took place overnight from Friday to Saturday in the desert area of Adrar, said a security official.
The four jihadists, including the Mauritanian Saleck Ould Cheikh Mohamedou, reputed to be very dangerous and sentenced to death, had escaped from a prison in Nouakchott on March 5.
Read alsoMauritania: four jihadists escape from prison
Saleck Ould Cheikh Mohamedou is among the fugitives killed, said the security official, speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to appear to be speaking in place of the government.
The escape had tarnished the favorable image of Mauritania in the fight against Islamist radicals.
The four fugitives have since been actively sought.
