BAMAKO -- Fighting erupted Wednesday in northern Mali amid tensions between the army and the separatist rebel MNLA, overshadowing the planned presidential elections next month, according to the military.

The flare was located at the village of Anefis, 100 km away from the MNLA stronghold of Kidal, where the Tuareg rebels still resist against the entry of the Malian army months after other rebel groups were driven out of most of the northern region.

The clash came one day after a suicide bomb attack in the region of Kidal, killing one person and injuring another. "It was a man with a slightly red skin (Tuareg),” a local source told Xinhua, adding that the "National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) would like to make it look like a black person who wanted to revenge against the MNLA.”

On Tuesday, the political and administrative authorities of Gao, the biggest northern town, received 24 black youths who alleged to be chased away from the town of Kidal by the MNLA).

Witnesses contacted by Xinhua said the 24 youths of Sonra, Bambara, Peul and Bella tribes were arrested in Kidal by the MNLA and detained for about two days.

"The MNLA has accused us of not taking part in the protest against the arrival of the Malian army in Kidal and our failure to support the independence of Azawad region,” the youths said.

The MNLA swept through the desert north alongside Al- Qaida linked rebels such as AQIM in the aftermath of the military coup on March 22, 2012.

It remains in Kidal as a party to the ongoing talks to end the crisis since the Malian army and its allies launched a counter- offensive in January. Tensions are escalating between the MNLA and the Malian government, which is yet to restore administration over Kidal and send in its troops.  

Xinhua