Up to five rockets landed inside the UN base in Kidal at about 4am this morning. Three people have so far been pronounced dead, but officials said the total number was not clear.

It comes just days after ISIS extremists took hotel guests hostage and killed 20.

Minusma spokesman Olivier Salgado said: "Four or five rockets landed inside the base. Quite a few people were wounded but it's too early for a precise number."

It is not yet known who is behind the attacks in the country ravaged by ISIS extremists.

French troops and UN forces are struggling to stabilise the former French colony which is under siege from numerous militant groups, with three taking responsibility for the attack on the Radisson Blu hotel on November 20 - al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI), its splinter group al Mourabitoun and Massina Liberation Front (MLF).

Extremists occupied northern Mali in 2012 but were driven out by French militants.

But violence has continued.

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