BAMAKO, Mali -- A spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali says three peacekeepers have been wounded while pursuing suspects in an attack near a military camp in the country's north.

Olivier Salgado said Saturday a rocket attack took place Friday evening in Aguel'hoc, and a battalion of Chadian peacekeepers with the mission known as MINUSMA were out on patrol searching for the assailants.

Around noon, the peacekeepers exchanged fire with gunmen, and three of the Chadians were wounded and taken to Gao for treatment.

Security remains tenuous in the region, as al-Qaida-linked militants remain active even after a French-led military operation to oust them from power last year.

Secular Tuareg rebels from the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad are also present in the area