Three Malian troops were killed in the centre of the country on Thursday when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb, a tactic commonly used by jihadist groups in the region, military sources said.

The three -- members of the National Guard, a unit of the Malian armed forces -- had been travelling between Koro and Mondoro, near the border with Burkina Faso, two sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Mali has been struggling with a jihadist insurgency that broke out in the north of the country in 2012 before spreading to the centre and then to Burkina Faso and Niger, often inflaming ethnic rivalries.

On Friday, the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that more than two million people in the Sahel had fled their homes due to violence.

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