Clashes between Tuaregs and black Africans in northern Mali’s flashpoint city of Kidal left at least one dead overnight, officials said Friday, a sign of growing tension with key polls nine days away.

Clashes between Tuaregs and black Africans in northern Mali's flashpoint city of Kidal left at least one dead overnight, officials said Friday, a sign of growing tension with key polls nine days away.

An official with the UN peacekeeping force in the troubled west African country said the incident was apparently caused by rumors that the army was sending more troops to Kidal ahead of the July 28 presidential poll.

"There were shots between a Tuareg group accused of being the MNLA (rebel National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad), or close to the MNLA, and the black population," the MINUSMA official said.

Tensions were further inflamed when a group of armed Tuareg set fire to the town centre market while an unarmed Tuareg group looted shops and homes, African military source said.

"The streets are empty and at least 40 civilians have been wounded," he said.

A source close to Kidal governor Colonel Adama Kamissoko confirmed "the death of a civilian in the violence."

"Shops were destroyed, particularly of people who came from Gao, another town in north Mali," the source said, adding that "dozens of civilians took refuge in the military camp."

He also asserted that the situation remained tense in Kidal on Friday.

MNLA, which wants independence for the vast desert region Tuaregs call Azawad, had always refused to let government troops enter Kidal before a deal was reached ahead of this month's crucial election.

According to the deal, MNLA forces move into barracks as 150 regular troops were deployed to secure the city ahead of the vote.

Kidal was one of the first major towns to fall when a short-lived March 2012 coup in Bamako allowed a rebellion launched by the MNLA two months earlier to conquer most of northern Mali.