PARIS: A French soldier died and another was injured in a road accident in Mali, where they were both part of a military offensive that chased Islamists out of the north of the country.

Marc Martin-Vallet, 28, was killed on Tuesday when the transport vehicle he was travelling in fell into a ditch, according to the defence ministry.

Martin-Vallet, who had been in the west African country for two months, is the seventh French soldier to die since the beginning of the French-led offensive in Mali on January 11.

His is the first accidental death. The crisis in Mali began in March last year when a military mutiny toppled democratically elected president Amadou Toumani Toure.

The ensuing confusion precipitated the fall of northern Mali to Al-Qaeda, but the military intervention launched by French and African troops chased the rebels from the region's main cities.