"We cut off the hands of two people on Friday. Eight others will soon share the same fate," said Moctar Barry, a leader of the Islamist militant group controlling the northern city of Gao.

"It's God's law and no one can stop us from applying it," the official of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) said.

His claims were confirmed by witnesses, with one resident saying the amputees had committed theft.

"I saw one of them they gave him an injection before the amputation. He cried out. Both amputees are now at the hospital," another resident told AFP.

Gao lawmaker Abdou Sidibe blamed the amputations on "the international community's laxness", saying its hesitations over whether to intervene to reconquer Mali's north were making the Islamists feel invincible.

The amputations took place a day after the UN Security Council approved plans for the African-led 3,300 troop intervention but vowed to work toward a peaceful solution.

Al-Qaeda linked groups and other Islamists have been controlling regions in northern Mali for months, in a conflict that has so far displaced more than 400,000 people, according to the UN.