A peacekeeper and two children died Sunday as militants shelled a UN base in northern Mali, heightening security fears as police hunted jihadists who launched a deadly Bamako nightclub assault.

A peacekeeper and two children died Sunday as militants shelled a UN base in northern Mali, heightening security fears as police hunted jihadists who launched a deadly Bamako nightclub assault.

The UN's MINUSMA force said more than 30 rockets were fired at its barracks in the rebel stronghold of Kidal from 5:40 am (05:40 GMT).

"Once they had established from where the rockets were being fired, MINUSMA troops immediately returned fire two kilometers from the compound, at around 6:00 am," the force said in a statement.

"According to preliminary reports, one MINUSMA soldier died and eight others were injured. The shelling also claimed victims among the citizens of Kidal outside the compound, killing two and injuring four."

The UN Security Council issued a statement condemning the "heinous" assault and warned that "those responsible for the attack shall be held accountable" while calling on the Malian government to investigate.

No group has claimed responsibility, although Kidal is the cradle of northern Mali's Tuareg separatist movement, which has launched several uprisings from the region since the 1960s.

Tuareg and militias - loyalist and anti-government - have forged a peace agreement with the Malian government formulated earlier this month in Algiers, although the main rebel groups have yet to sign it.

The so-called 'Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb' and other takfiri groups also carry out attacks in Kidal, including the 2013 murders of French journalists Ghislaine
Dupont and Claude Verlon.