A police officer and a civilian were killed on Monday when an improvised explosive device detonated at a checkpoint in western Mali, a country facing relentless jihadist attacks, the governor’s office in Nara said.

Another seven people were injured in the explosion, on the way from Mauritania, according to authorities.

A military official confirmed the attack to AFP.

On February 7, two police officers and a gendarme were killed in an attack on a checkpoint in the same area, attributed to jihadists.

Mali has been experiencing since 2012 a wave of violence by jihadist organizations which has caused a multidimensional crisis — security, political and humanitarian. The violence, initially centered in the northern part of the landlocked Sahel country, has spread to the central and eastern parts of the country and to neighboring countries, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The colonels who seized power in a coup in Mali in 2020 ended the military alliance with France and its partners in 2022 and turned to Russia.