About 10 Islamist rebels were killed in fighting involving French special forces in northern Mali earlier this month, the defense ministry said on Thursday.

The battle, which took place north of Timbuktu on October 1, was some of the heaviest fighting since a French military intervention dislodged rebel forces in control of northern Mali early this year.

The preservation of monuments in Syria and Mali pose some of the biggest challenges on a list of 67 global sites that need protection, a foundation warned Tuesday.

Unveiling its watch list for 2014, the World Monuments Fund (WMF) warned that conflict, catastrophe, lack of resources, development pressures and loss of cultural traditions threaten sites in 41 countries.

Armed Islamic extremists on Tuesday blew up a small bridge near Mali's largest northern town of Gao, wounding two civilians, police and local government sources said.

"Early this Tuesday, Islamists dynamited one of two small bridges near ... Bentia, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the frontier with Niger, leaving two civilians wounded," said Ibrahim Cisse, a local councilor for the Gao region.

Around 30 Malian soldiers suspected of involvement in protests that left one wounded earlier this week have been arrested and turned over to paramilitary police, an army spokesman told Agence France Presse on Friday.

On Monday, dozens of disgruntled soldiers involved in the 2012 coup had fired guns in the air at a protest, wounding and taking hostage a close aide of last year's mutiny leader Amadou Sanogo, according to military sources.

The Red Cross warned Wednesday of growing humanitarian difficulties in Mali, where violence resurged last month between insurgents and the military.

"The humanitarian consequences of the armed violence in the north of the country, combined with difficult weather conditions, are hitting civilians hard," said Christophe Luedi, head of the ICRC delegation in Mali.

The Malian army came under attack Sunday from gunmen in the northern rebel stronghold of Kidal, the regional governor told Agence France Presse, three days after peace talks with rebels broke down.

"As I speak a lot of shots are being fired in Kidal. Armed men are shooting and the Malian soldiers have retaliated," Adama Kamissoko told AFP by telephone from the city.

A suicide bomber was killed instantly when he accidentally detonated his explosives belt in the Malian rebel bastion of Kidal on Sunday, without killing or wounding anyone else, a local government official told Agence France Presse.

The incident came after militants carried out two attacks in northern Mali in less than 72 hours, marking an upsurge in violence since the breakdown of peace talks between the government and rebel groups on Thursday.

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at an army barracks in northern Mali on Saturday, killing two civilians in an upsurge in violence against the military since the failure of peace talks with rebel groups.

The unidentified bombers let off explosives in a car in front of an army camp in the desert city of Timbuktu, also wounding two soldiers, just 24 hours after troops in the rebel bastion of Kidal were hurt in a grenade attack.

Two men threw hand-grenades at Malian troops in the ethnic-Tuareg northern rebel bastion of Kidal on Friday, wounding two soldiers, a local government official told Agence France Presse.

The incident, which left one of the troopers seriously hurt, came after after Tuareg and Arab rebels claiming autonomy for northern Mali announced the suspension of negotiations with the government, dealing a blow to hopes of a durable peace in the troubled west African nation.

Tuareg and Arab rebels, who control northern Mali, announced Thursday the suspension of negotiations with the Bamako government, dealing a blow to hopes of a durable peace.

The central issue is the future status of northern Mali, which the Tuareg movements call 'Azawad'. The rebels are seeking autonomy, something the central government is unwilling to discuss.