In a letter President Emmanuel Macron, Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said the soldiers had died for Mali and the Sahel, as well as for France.

"The loss is heavy but the peoples of the Sahel share your bereavement," he said.

The crash, which occurred late Monday near the border with Burkina Faso and Niger, is the heaviest single loss of life for the French military in 36 years.

France has some 4,500 troops stationed in the Sahel to counter a jihadist insurgency that has engulfed swathes of Mali and spread into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, in a letter to Macron posted on Twitter, also expressed his sorrow, adding that he "hails the memory" of the dead troops.

Mali and and Burkina Faso are both part of the G5 Sahel military force, which cooperates with France in the region. The military alliance also includes Chad, Mauritania and Niger.