Mali's military leadership has said it thwarted a coup attempt and arrested two generals as well as a French national who they say is a suspected foreign agent, among others.

Security Minister General Daoud Aly Mohammedine announced the arrest of a group of military officers and civilians in a statement read out on state television late Thursday evening.

The statement also confirmed the detention of dozens of soldiers in recent days.

Rumours of the arrests had circulated for several days in Mali.

The group had support from abroad, Mohmammedine said, and had allegedly attempted to destabilise Mali.

What do we know about the arrested individuals?

The security minister said the French national was arrested on suspicion of "acting on behalf of the French intelligence service, which mobilised political leaders, civil society actors and military personnel" in Mali.

Mali's junta, which came to power in back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, provided few other details about what this alleged coup entailed and the French national implicated in it.

France, Mali's former colonial ruler, has yet to comment on the man's arrest, according to various news agencies.

One of the arrested generals, Abass Dembele, is popular among Malian soldiers. A former governor of the central Mopti region, he was dismissed in May after demanding an investigation into allegations that the Malian army executed at least civilians during a military operation in the village of Diafarabe.

The development comes amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent by Mali's military following a pro-democracy rally in May, the first since soldiers seized power nearly four years ago.

Rida Lyammouri, an analyst at the Morocco-based Policy Centre for the New South, told the Associated Press that Mali's military is aware of the discontent among the population and members of the military.

"The military leaders are simply not willing to let those grievances build into something more, like a coup, and therefore these arrests seem more of a way to intimidate than a legitimate coup attempt," Lyammouri said.

"It's a continuation of the repeated unjustified arrests and prosecution of anyone speaking against the current regime," he added.

Mali military chief granted an extendable mandate until 2030.

In July, military leader General Assimi Goita was granted a five-year presidential term, which is renewable indefinitely.

This was despite the junta's earlier promises of a return to civilian rule by March 2024.

The move followed the military's dissolution of political parties in May.

Goita also withdrew Mali from the regional grouping ECOWAS over its demands that Mali restore democratic rule.

In a separate incident, Mali's civilian former prime minister Choguel Maiga and a number of his former colleagues were taken into custody on Tuesday.

The detentions are part of an investigation into claims of "misappropriation of public funds".

Maiga was appointed prime minister in 2021 before being dismissed in late 2024 after criticising the military government, something he continued to do after his dismissal.

And earlier in August, another former prime minister, Moussa Mara, was arrested on charges of undermining the credibility of the state.

Mara had previously posted on social media his "unwavering solidarity with prisoners of conscience" jailed by the military junta.

Mali's junta, led by Goita, has turned away from Western partners, most notably France, to align itself politically and militarily with Russia in the name of national sovereignty.