Two Malian soldiers were killed on Monday in an attack attributed to jihadists in the northeast, near the borders of Burkina Faso and Niger, the army said overnight.

The relief of the Tessit post, southwest of Ansongo, was ambushed, the army said on social networks. "After heavy fighting, the death toll shows 2 dead and 8 wounded" in the ranks of the army.

Since 2012 and the outbreak of independent and then jihadist rebellions in the North, Mali has been plunged into a multifaceted turmoil that has left thousands dead, civilians and combatants, and hundreds thousands of displaced people, despite the support of the international community and the intervention of UN, African and French forces.

The crisis spread to Burkina Faso and Niger.

The so-called three-border zone was the subject of a major military effort by the French Barkhane force and its Sahelian partners, especially directed against the Islamic State organization in the greater Sahara.

France claims to have considerably weakened the rebels, while also hitting hard – al-Qaeda and its affiliates, also active in the Sahel.