• The incident took place near the town of Douentza, on the road to Timbuktu.
• The soldiers were part of the Egyptian contingent of the UN peacekeeping mission.
• Central Mali is a hotbed of violence and jihadist activity.

Two UN peacekeepers were killed and two others were injured Friday when an improvised bomb exploded in central Mali, according to a MINUSMA mission spokesman.

According to a security official, the soldiers were part of the Egyptian contingent of the UN peacekeeping mission.

“The head of MINUSMA condemned the attack,” spokesman Olivier Salgado posted.

He said the incident took place near the town of Douentza, on the road to Timbuktu.

On Wednesday, a Jordanian blue helmet was killed in an attack on his convoy in Kidal, in northern Mali.

With 13,000 members, MINUSMA — the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali — is one of the UN’s biggest peacekeeping operations, and also one of its most dangerous.

It says 174 troops have died from hostile acts.

Improvised explosive devices are a weapon of choice for jihadists against MINUSMA and Malian forces. They also kill many civilians.

Seven Togolese peacekeepers were killed in December by an IED explosion between Douentza and Sevare.

Read more: Two soldiers killed, nine injured in Mali ambush: army

On Friday, the Egyptian peacekeepers were in an escort of a dozen UN vehicles accompanying a convoy of civilian trucks carrying fuel, Salgado said.

Such convoys can stretch for miles.

A mine exploded as the convoy passed, Salgado said.

Mines can be detonated on contact or remotely.

Central Mali is a hotbed of violence and jihadist activity that has spread from the north to the center of the country, and then to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Thousands of civilians and combatants have died, and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes.

Two reports issued this week, one by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the other by MINUSMA’s human rights division, express concern about the escalation of violence in central Mali.

Read more: UN peacekeeper killed in Mali ‘terrorist’ attack