A spokesman of the Senegalese army said troops launched a fresh operation against separatists in the southern region of Casamance early Sunday.

The spokesman said in a message to AFP on Sunday that operations are under way.

According to him, the goal is to create conditions for civilians displaced by the decades-old conflict to return home.

A village elder in Sao Domingos, some 20 kilometres away in neighbouring Guinea-Bissau, said he could hear explosions coming from south of the Casamance capital Ziguinchor.

Adolphus Mawolo reports.