Two suicide bombers let off explosives in a car in front of a military camp in the northern Malian desert city of Timbuktu, killing two civilians, military sources say.
"Two suicide bombers on board a car exploded next to our military camp. They are both dead. There were two civilians in a horsecart who were also killed. We are in a state of high alert," a Malian soldier at the camp told AFP on Saturday.
An African military source from the United Nations' MINUSMA peacekeeping mission confirmed the attack, the first suicide bombing in the mainly Tuareg and Arab northern caravan town since March.
"Suicide bombers have infiltrated Timbuktu. They came to the camp to blow up their vehicle and they died," he said.
Mali has been the target of a series of attacks claimed by Islamist insurgents since France launched a military operation in January against Al-Qaeda-linked groups occupying the north of the country.
The French-led operation forced the extremists from the cities they seized in the chaotic aftermath of a military coup that overthrew Mali's government in March 2012.
Residual groups of these fighters are no longer able to carry out coordinated assaults, but they are still capable of regular small-scale attacks, mainly against Malian and French soldiers.
Saturday's attack came a day after two men threw hand-grenades at Malian troops in the ethnic-Tuareg northern rebel bastion of Kidal, wounding two soldiers.
Both incidents follow the suspension of peace talks on Thursday between Tuareg and Arab rebels who want autonomy for northern Mali and the government.
