DAKAR, March 23, 2025 (AFP) - Two members of an armed group allied to Mali's ruling junta were killed Saturday when their motorbike hit an improvised explosive device, according to a statement from their movement.

The two victims, members of the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA) were killed in the northeast of the country, said the statement issued from Menaka, the main town in that region.

They had been working as security on a convoy of food bound for Menaka, the statement added.

The group reaffirmed its support for the armed forces of Mali.

Azawad is the name of a territory claimed by separatists in the north of the country.

Defeated in Kidal by an army enjoying Russian mercenary support in November 2023, the rebels retreated farther north towards the Algerian border, from where they have launched their attacks.

Since 2012, Mali has been in the throes of a profound security crisis fuelled in large part by armed jihadists affiliated to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as criminal gangs.

Following coups in 2020 and then 2021 the Sahel country has been led by a military junta, which has pledged to restore order and crack down on violent Islamists.

But jihadist attacks continue to trouble the nation, despite the junta's claims that its stepped-up military campaigns and tilt towards security cooperation with Russia have turned the tide.