A military official also confirmed the attack to AFP.
On February 7, two police officers and a gendarme were killed in an attack by suspected jihadists on a checkpoint in the town of Nara.
Mali has been in the throes of a decade-long security crisis triggered by a regional revolt in the north that developed into a full-blown jihadist insurgency.
Thousands have died, hundreds of thousands have fled their homes and devastating economic damage has been inflicted to the landlocked country.
Since August 2020, Mali has been ruled by the military. The violence has mainly affected the centre and the east of the country, and has spread to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
AFP
