The spokesman for the mission said a rocket or mortar attack last night killed one UN peacekeeper and gravely wounded three others at the mission's camp in the city of Gao. It said more than 10 peacekeepers were lightly wounded.
China's Foreign Ministry today said the dead peacekeeper and four of the wounded peacekeepers were Chinese.
The UN spokesman's statement said a separate attack shortly afterward on a local service provider for the UN's mine-defusing agency killed two Malian security guards and an international expert with the company. The expert was from France.
Islamic extremists have been attacking international peacekeepers and Malian soldiers working to stabilize the north three years after a French-led military campaign ousted the jihadists from power.
In a separate attack yesterday, unidentified gunmen killed three Burkina Faso policemen at their station in Intagom near the border with Mali, Burkina Faso's security minister said.
The gunmen made off with a number of weapons from the police station, said Simon Compaore.
Two weeks ago, gunmen described as jihadists by Burkina Faso's government attacked a police station near the border with Mali and wounded two policemen. One remains in critical condition.