Shooting was heard on Friday, February 8 at a paratroopers' base in Mali's southern capital Bamako and government forces have sealed off the area, Malian military sources said, according to Reuters.

It was not immediately clear who had caused the shooting.

Since a military coup in March last year that plunged Mali into chaos and led to the occupation of the north by Tuareg and Islamist rebels, paratroopers loyal to former President Amadou Toumani Toure had been largely sidelined and some arrested.