Three Malian soldiers were killed on Wednesday in a “complex” attack in the restive centre of the country, the defence ministry said, in the latest violence to hit the Sahel state.

Militants ambushed troops patrolling south of the central Malian town of Boulkessy, near the border with Burkina Faso, killing three soldiers and wounding four, according to a provisional toll.

The patrol “was the target of a complex attack,” the defence ministry said in a statement late Wednesday, adding that Malian troops had wounded 15 assailants.

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

Central Mali has become one of the epicentres of the lethal conflict, which has claimed the lives of thousands of soldiers and civilians.

The soldiers killed on Wednesday were deployed as part of the G5 Sahel force, an anti-jihadist military alliance between Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mauritania and Chad.

France — the former colonial power in all G5 Sahel countries — also has 5,100 soldiers deployed in the region.