"According to a security source, the (armed forces) carried out airstrikes on several terrorist nests in the area", on Friday, the governorate of the town of Nara, near the Mauritanian border, said in a statement received late on Friday by AFP.

"On the enemy side, the provisional report shows seven (7) terrorists neutralised, two (2) prisoners, weapons and materials recovered", it said.

The armed forces said in a social media post that that a complex ambush had taken place between the towns of Nara and Guire and that the dead and wounded were being evacuated from the area.

Mali, which is run by a military junta, has since 2012 been battling a jihadist insurgency that has spread to Burkina Faso and Niger, killing and displacing thousands of people.