The armed assailants barged into the site 55 km from the town of Kwala and managed to steal five pick-up trucks and hostages, Mali's Armed Forces (FAMA) said in a Facebook statement, according to an Al Jazeera report.

The attackers also destroyed equipment including a crane and dump trucks owned by Chinese construction company COVEC, and Mauritanian road-building company ATTM, said the army, the report stated.

The abduction happened when the men were working on the project site, according to AFP news agency.

According to Mauritania's news agency Al-Akhbar, the gunmen came to the spot on motorcycles.

Since 2012 Mali has been struggling to contain violence unleashed by Al Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) affiliated groups.

The fighters have now expanded from the country's desert in the north to the centre and farther to Burkina Faso and Niger, stated the report.

Abductions are frequent in Mali. Thousands of people have been killed while hundreds have fled their homes in the violence-racked country.

The African country has also been mired in political instability as the military officers conducted their second coup in May within a span of nine months.