In Sahel, French troops hunt hidden menace of jihadist landmines

The unit commander’s order crackles over the radio and the column of French armoured vehicles en route between Burkina Faso and Mali comes to a sudden halt.

In the Sahel scrub some 50 kilometres (31 miles) from Deou, in northern Burkina Faso, the vehicles fall into a semi-circle.

Eight military engineers step out and walk in an inverted-V formation, metal detectors in hand, in a routine performed so often that its life-or-death importance is easily forgotten.

They are searching for IEDs, or Improvised Explosive Devices – a major threat to civilians and soldiers in a region struggling with a growing jihadist insurgency.