Three UN peacekeepers were killed and five were seriously injured when their convoy struck a roadside bomb in central Mali.

The UN Multidimensional integrated stabilisation mission in Mali (Minusma) on Tuesday did not identify the nationalities of the peacekeepers.

The 13,500-strong UN force was created in 2013 to help the state fight jihadists with links to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State armed group, in an insurgency that has left thousands dead and displaced hundreds of thousands across the Sahel region.

France withdrew its troops deployed as part of its Barhkahne anti-jihadist force in Mali in 2022, after disagreements with the military junta, which first took power by force 2020.

The junta has since ended military cooperation with France and European allies, and has turned to Russia, and has claimed it is gaining the upper hand against insurgents thanks to support from Russian paramilitary forces.

Not collapsing

On Monday, the junta protested against comments made by the European Council president, Charles Michel.

He claimed, last week, "in a media interview" that the Malian state was collapsing and that jihadists were gaining ground.

Michel's comments "omit the tangible progress achieved by Malian forces on the ground," the foreign ministry said in a statement distributed on social media.

The junta did not specify the context in which Michel said this, but it appears to be a reaction to an interview he gave to the TV5 Monde television station.

The junta summoned Pascal Perennec the charge d'affaires of the European Union's delegation to Mali to express its "strong protest" against Michel's "unfriendly, erroneous and aggressive" statements, which the Malian foreign minister said came from a "campaign of disinformation" against Mali.

(with newswires)