PARIS, July 1 (UPI) -- Two French soldiers have been suspended and an investigation has been launched due to allegations of child sexual abuse in Burkina Faso.
The soldiers are suspected of "committing acts of a sexual nature," according to a statement by France's Ministry of Defense, adding that an investigation has been launched by the Chief of Staff of the French Army, Gen. Jean-Pierre Bosser.
The statement said no mercy will be shown to the soldiers if the allegations are proven true.
About 3,000 French soldiers are stationed in Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Mauritania and Niger as part of an anti-terrorism operation.
In another similar incident, a leaked United Nations report in April alleged 16 French peacekeepers abused children in the Central African Republic by exchanging goods, such as food, for sex between December 2013 and June 2014.
The landlocked West African country of Burkina Faso has a population of about 17 million people.
