A renewed fighting has erupted between Malian troops and members of the Tuareg rebel group in Kidal in the north.

The gunmen attacked soldiers guarding a bank in the rebel stronghold on Sunday, sparking fears that the violence could escalate after peace talks with the rebels broke down, AFP reported.

"As I speak a lot of shots are being fired in Kidal. Armed men are shooting and the Malian soldiers have retaliated," Adama Kamissoko told the news agency by telephone from the city.

Tuareg rebels, who are fighting to gain autonomy in the northern region of the West African country, have suspended peace negotiations with the central government.

"Following multiple difficulties in implementing the Ouagadougou accord, caused notably by the Mali government's failure to respect its commitments," the Tuareg and Arab rebel groups "decided to suspend participation in the structures created by the said accord," the rebels said in a joint statement issued on Thursday.

In June, the rebels signed a ceasefire deal with the government.

The peace agreement -- mediated by regional African powers, the United Nations and the European Union -- was signed by Mali's Territorial Administration Minister Colonel Moussa Sinko Coulibaly and representatives of two Tuareg movements in Ouagadougou, the capital of neighboring Burkina Faso.

The consensus was reached after nearly two weeks of relentless negotiations between all sides.

France launched a war in Mali on January 11 under the pretext of halting the advance of rebel fighters in the country.

On February 1, Amnesty International said “serious human rights breaches” -- including the killing of children -- were occurring in the French war in Mali.

Chaos broke out in the West African country after Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure was toppled in a military coup on March 22, 2012. The coup leaders said they mounted the coup in response to the government's inability to contain the Tuareg rebellion in the north of the country, which had been going on for two months.

However, in the wake of the coup d’état, the Tuareg rebels took control of the entire northern desert region, but the Ansar Dine extremists then pushed them aside and took control of the region, which is larger than France or Texas.