A suicide bombing in the northern Mali town of Kidal killed at least seven people late Tuesday, according to a Tuareg insurgent group targeted in the attack.
The bomber detonated the explosives in his all-terrain vehicle as he approached a checkpoint at the southern edge of the town, according to a spokesman for the Tuareg separatist National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA).
Seven MNLA fighters died in the explosion, and several more were injured.
Last week, five people were killed near Tessalit, 200 kilometres to the north-west, in car-bomb attacks targeting the Tuareg separatists, a Malian army spokesman said.
The secular Tuareg militants have taken over parts of the area, including several districts of Kidal, from Islamist insurgents since France began airstrikes against the Islamists in the region in January.