The United Nations says gunmen have attacked a U.N. peacekeeping base in the northern Mali city of Timbuktu, killing seven people.
U.N. officials say the dead include five Malian security guards, a gendarme and a Malian contractor working for the U.N. mission.
They say six assailants were also killed by U.N. peacekeepers during the Monday afternoon attack.
The violence follows another attack on Monday in which armed men opened fire on U.N. peacekeepers and Malian troops in the central Malian town of Douentza. One peacekeeper and one Malian soldier were killed in that attack.
No one has claimed responsibility for Monday's violence, however Islamist militants frequently target the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali. More than 100 peacekeepers have been killed in Mali, making it the most deadly of the United Nations' 16 global peacekeeping operations.
联合国说，马里中部城市廷巴克图的一个联合国维和部队基地受到枪手袭击，7人丧生。
联合国官员说，死者包括5名马里保安卫兵，1名宪兵和1名马里合同工。
他们说，在星期一下午的袭击事件中，还有6名袭击者被联合国维和部队打死。
星期一早些时候，武装人员在马里中部城镇杜安扎对联合国维和部队和马里部队开火，造成一名维和人员和一名马里士兵丧生。
目前还没有人出面对星期一的袭击事件负责，但是伊斯兰激进分子经常对马里的联合国维和部队实施攻击。联合国在马里执行任务的维和人员至今已有100多人丧生，使马里成为联合国在全球各地16项维和行动中最危险的地方。