Tuareg rebels killed at least 14 soldiers in an attack on an army post close to Mali's border with Mauritania today, Malian military sources said, testing a five-month ceasefire in the African gold producer.
Gunmen in more than 20 four-wheel-drive vehicles raided the post at Nampala, some 400 km (250 miles) northeast of the capital Bamako before dawn, one source said.
"It is carnage, there are 14 soldiers killed including the chief of the post, 15 others injured, and it appears that hostages were taken," a second military source said, citing a provisional death toll.
The first source said fighters under the command of Tuareg insurgent chief Ibrahima Bahanga carried out the attack.
"We think they are rebel chief Bahanga's men," he said.
In July, Algeria brokered a ceasefire between Mali's government and the Tuareg rebels. For more than a year Tuareg fighters have attacked army posts and convoys to press for greater rights for their people in the largely desert West African country.
But doubts remain about the participation of Bahanga, a veteran rebel chieftain seen as something of a rogue element in the Malian Tuareg insurgency.
Reuters