The rebel movement, the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development, said in a statement on Saturday that it had seized armoured vehicles, trucks and tankers in the fighting at the border town of Tinzaouaten on Thursday and Friday.

The rebel group also said it damaged a helicopter, which crashed in the town of Kidal, hundreds of kilometres away.

The Malian army said in statements that two soldiers had been killed and 10 injured. One of its helicopters had crashed in Kidal on Friday while on a routine mission but no one was killed, it said.

Several Russian military bloggers reported on Sunday that at least 20 from the Wagner group were killed in an ambush near the Algerian border.

--Reuters--