Jihadists continue to roam the north and centre of the African country, despite being ousted from key northern towns by an ongoing French-led military intervention in 2013.
"Three members of the GATIA group were killed by terrorists in the vicinity of Anderamboukane, near the border with Niger," a Malian security source told AFP, requesting anonymity.
The guerrilla group was working with the Malian army to secure part of Mali's north, said a local administrative source who confirmed the death toll.
GATIA, (Imghad and Allies Tuareg Self-Defence Group) which supports the central government in Bamako, signed a 2015 peace deal with members of the country's former rebel alliance that is aimed at quelling uprisings in the north, but both sides have repeatedly violated a ceasefire.
A 2012 rebellion by the Tuareg-led rebels was hijacked by jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda who then seized control of key northern cities, triggering the international military intervention the following year.
A retired soldier and a Malian civilian who were taken hostage last July by Islamists were also freed on Friday in the Timbuktu region in Mali's northwest, a local government representative told AFP.
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