U.N., government troops come under attack in northern Mali

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Unknown attackers fired shells at a United Nations base on the outskirts of a town in northern Mali early on Wednesday, residents told Reuters. Separately, a Malian army base also came under attack, sparking a firefight that left three assailants dead and two others captured, Malian officials said. Mali's desert north suffers frequent militant attacks despite a French-led operation to drive out Islamic fighters following a Tuareg uprising there in 2012. "We are worried by shells being fired in the direction of the (U.N.) military base," said a resident in the town, Ansongo. He said helicopters were flying over the town, which is about 100 km (60 miles) southeast of Gao. A military source said a child had been killed in the attack and two peacekeepers were injured. A spokeswoman for the MINUSMA peacekeeping force said she did not have any details on the incident. It said in a statement in February that a battalion from Niger was based at Ansongo and that it would shortly be reinforced with a U.N. police unit. In a separate incident, unknown gunmen carried out a dawn raid on a Malian army base in Boulkessi, in the Mopti region near the border with Burkina Faso. "Our soldiers pushed them back, killing three and taking two prisoners," Souleymane Dembele, a military spokesman said. MINUSMA has been seeking to broker a peace deal between the northern rebels and the government. The rebels have refused to sign and talks are deadlocked. (Reporting by Adama Diarra; Writing by David Lewis and Emma Farge; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)