Suspected jihadists killed more than 20 people in a string of attacks on villages in central Mali's insurgency-hit Mopti region on Friday, two local sources said.

The unidentified assailants struck during the day and into the evening, ransacking and burning six villages in the Bandiagara area, the sources said on Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

One of the sources said the assailants had come in large numbers on motorcycles and attacked a first village, where they killed everyone and destroyed everything.