At least three United Nations peacekeepers were killed and five were seriously injured Tuesday when their convoy struck a roadside bomb in central Mali, the U.N. mission said.

"A MINUSMA Force convoy hit an Improvised Explosive Device #IED today," it said in a tweet that gave a preliminary toll.

MINUSMA – the U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali – was created in 2013 to help stabilize a state battered by terrorist groups.

Some of the groups have links to al-Qaida and Daesh.

Thousands of people have died and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes during the course of the emergency.

Last year, Mali's traditional ally, France, withdrew its troops from the country following a row with the ruling junta, which has brought in Russian paramilitaries to support its beleaguered army.

With more than 13,500 military personnel and police, MINUSMA is one of the biggest but also deadliest U.N. peacekeeping missions, suffering a high toll, especially to IEDs.

At least 281 peacekeepers have been killed in Mali since the start of the mission in 2013, making it the deadliest U.N. peacekeeping mission in the world.