Unidentified gunmen ambushed the guardsmen at around 11 p.m in the village of Birga-Peul near the town of Koro, by the border with Burkina Faso, the security official said on Wednesday, killing three.

The militants also torched two vehicles and made off with another, added the official, who declined to be named.

Mali has been struggling to quell a jihadist insurgency which emerged in 2012 and has since spread into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Central Mali has become an epicentre of the conflict, which has claimed the lives of thousands of soldiers and civilians.