BAMAKO, Mali, September 17, SPA -- Eight people were killed in an attack by Tuareg rebels in northern Mali, according to a statement released Monday by Mali's defense ministry. The attack on a military unit in Mali's volatile northerndesert occurred Sunday morning. One soldier and seven ofthe assailants were killed, the Associated Press quoted Defense Ministry Spokesman Col. Abdoulaye Coulibaly as saying. Coulibaly identified the attackers as «armed bandits,»the government's term for the ethnic Tuareg rebels, whoselighter skin and nomadic ways have set them apart fromMali's African majority. Coulibaly said the armed banditswere led by Ibrahima Bahanga, a Tuareg rebel leader. www.spa.gov.sa/483383