The U.N. mission in Mali says U.N. and Malian forces have retaken a police base in Timbuktu that was briefly seized by unknown assailants Friday morning.
Mission spokesman Olivier Salgado fighting at the site has ended and that security forces are searching the area for explosive devices.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Northern Mali has been wracked with violence in recent years, including insurgencies by Islamist militant groups and ethnic Tuareg militias.
The U.N. established its peacekeeping force in Mali in 2013.