JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Burkina Faso’s army says 32 Islamic extremists were killed over the weekend in the country’s north and several women used as sex slaves were freed.

An army statement says one soldier was also killed in the latest clashes as the extremist presence grows in the West African nation.

The statement says 24 extremists were killed in hours of intense fighting Friday in Yorsala after a military patrol was ambushed. The following day, an army offensive near Bourzanga killed eight extremists and recovered a stash of weapons.

Burkina Faso’s president earlier this month vowed to hunt down extremists after they killed at least 37 people in an attack on a convoy carrying employees of a Canadian mining company. It was called the deadliest attack since Islamic extremists became active in the country in 2015.