Two drivers have been shot dead in an attack on a peacekeeping supply convoy in northern Mali, the UN mission has said.

The assailants stopped the convoy some 15km from the main city of Gao and "coldly killed two of the drivers" in the attack on Friday, the UN Mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, said in a statement on Saturday, adding that a third person was wounded.

The killings come amid continued violent activity by armed groups that had previously taken control of northern Mali before being routed by a French-led international intervention that began in 2013.

Two civilians were killed and nine peacekeepers from Niger were wounded on Wednesday in a strike by an Al-Qaeda-linked group on the UN's MINUSMA peacekeeping mission in Ansongo, in northern Mali.

The renewed violence comes as peace talks started again in Algeria between the Malian government and various armed groups which are active in northern Mali.