Eight people were killed and 42 were injured in Mali after a passenger bus carrying civilians hit a land mine west of the capital Bamako, a transport union official said on Tuesday.

The explosion happened on Monday on a road where an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group operates and follows unprecedented assaults by the terrorist group in April in coordination with Tuareg-led separatists.

Eight people died and 42 were wounded after the bus hit the land mine on the road from Bamako to Kayes, Mamadou Kassambara, communications officer for the national drivers' union told Reuters on Tuesday.

Africa Corps, a Russian paramilitary group operating in Mali, said in a social media post late on Monday that five people had been killed and more than 10 were injured in the incident.

Blockade to capital

Nobody has claimed responsibility for laying the land mine.

The Al Qaeda-linked terrorist organisation announced a blockade on Bamako following the April attacks. The Malian government, under President Assimi Goita, says it would do everything possible to rid the country of terrorism.