(BSS/AFP) - Thirty-five Mauritanians who had been detained in Mali returned home on Wednesday, a government spokesman said, alleging some had been tortured during an episode that caught national attention.

The individuals had been suspected of being terrorists, a foreign ministry source and a police source told AFP in Mali, where allied jihadists and separatists have recently carried out a series of attacks.

Mauritania`s government spokesman told a press conference late on Wednesday that the accusations were unfounded, and alleged torture.

"These are innocent Mauritanian citizens who have been subjected to mistreatment and sometimes torture by the Malian authorities, and unjustly so," Houssein Ould Medou told journalists.

"This situation stems from the security issues facing that country, which lead its authorities to harbour unfounded suspicions regarding our citizens," he said.

The individuals were released on Friday following intervention by the Mauritanian embassy in Bamako, the Malian foreign ministry source said.

While in Mali, the Mauritanians had posted on social media that they had been mistreated and had their belongings stolen, including watches, money and clothing.

The detainees, who were held for almost three weeks, returned on a Mauritania Airlines flight to Nema, in the country`s far southeast, on Wednesday afternoon, the state-run Mauritanian News Agency (AMI) said.

They were greeted by the regional governor, officials, and family members who were seen crying and hugging their relatives in footage posted online by AMI.

It cited a government official as saying that Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani had intervened to help assure their return.

The Mauritanians were detained while in Mali after leaving Ivory Coast, AMI reported.

Mali has been gripped by a security crisis since 2012, and has seen a heightened spate of attacks since April by a coalition of Tuareg separatists and jihadists from the al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).

The country`s junta, which came to power in two successive coups in 2020 and 2021, has struggled to contain the threat.