Bamako - Dozens of armed men suspected of being Islamist militants attacked a police base in southern Mali early on Wednesday, security sources said.
One of the military sources said about 30 attackers arrived on motorbikes at the base in the Sikasso Region near the Ivorian border waving a black flag and shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”).
The same flag was used by Islamist fighters during their 2012 uprising in north Mali.
A gendarme were killed in the attack and the base was burned down, the source added, revising an earlier estimate of two dead.
“Very early this morning, a police base in Misseni was attacked by armed men,” Colonel Souleymane Maiga, director for communication for the Malian army said.
He did not give a death toll or comment on the identity of the attackers, but said reinforcements had been deployed to the area.
Mali's army and U.N. peacekeepers have suffered frequent attacks in the lawless north - a desert region where militants continue to roam despite efforts to unite and pacify the West African country.
The unrest has since spread south. The first attack there occurred three months ago when gunmen opened fire on a popular restaurant in the capital Bamako, killing five people including two foreigners.
Mali erupted into violence in 2012 when Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and Tuareg separatists joined forces to seize the desert north. A French-led military operation a year later chased them out, although tensions and sporadic violence recur.
UN and Algerian mediators have so far failed to agree a conclusive peace deal on the future of northern Mali. Meanwhile, several armed groups are fighting each other.
Reuters