Bamako - Suspected northern rebels attacked a central Malian town on Tuesday, leading to clashes with government troops in which six separatists and one soldier died, a defence ministry spokesman said.
A rising wave of violence in the West African nation and regular violations of a ceasefire between the government and the rebels are threatening to sink a UN-backed peace deal due to receive preliminary approval this month.
The gunmen attacked Tenenkou, around 400 km (250 miles) northeast of the capital Bamako, before dawn, according to the defence ministry and Mali's UN mission, MINUSMA.
Ministry spokesman Colonel Diaran Kone said three soldiers were injured in the fighting and that government troops seized arms and vehicles from the attackers.
MINUSMA spokeswoman Radhia Achouri said the fighting ended by mid-morning. “We understand that the Malian state forces maintained control of the town,” she told Reuters.
Neither the Malian government nor the UN immediately identified the attackers.
However the Coordination of Movements for Azawad (CMA) - an umbrella organisation of Tuareg and Arab separatist groups - claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement and said its fighters had seized control of Tenenkou.
This could not be immediately verified by independent sources.
Tenenkou was attacked twice in January, though on those occasions the raids were blamed on an ethnic Peulh militia not belonging to the CMA.
The peace deal, to which the government and armed groups are due to give preliminary approval on May 15, aims to end a cycle of uprisings in northern Mali over the past five decades by mainly Tuareg rebels fighting for independence.
In the most recent in 2012, separatists joined forces with Islamist militants to briefly seize control of the northern two-thirds of the country before a French-led military intervention rolled them back.
Diplomats hope a peace deal will allow Malian and international forces to concentrate on tackling al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters roaming the country's lawless desert region.
Reuters