4 assailants have been killed after an attack on a tourist resort. (Representational image)

Four assailants have been killed by security forces in Mali after an attack on a tourist resort popular with foreigners close to the capital Bamako, the country's security minister said late Sunday.

"We have recovered the bodies of two attackers who were killed", Salif Traore told journalists, adding that they were "searching for the bodies of two others", without specifying if any more were on the run.