A suicide bomb attack on a camp housing former rebels and pro-government militia in northern Mali on Wednesday killed 37 fighters, a UN peacekeeping source and a local official told AFP.

The camp is located in Gao, the main city in northern Mali, once the cradle of rebel uprisings and a sanctuary for Islamist fighters. 

In 2015, after a French-led international intervention, the rebel alliance signed a peace deal with the government and loyalist militias.