By Tiemoko Diallo

BAMAKO, May 6 (Reuters) - Tuareg rebels attacked two army camps in Mali on Tuesday, killing one soldier and looting a weapons store at a garrison much closer to the capital than most previous operations, a senior army officer said.

The rebels launched the twin attacks on Tuesday morning, three days after a clash that appeared to torpedo a ceasefire deal hammered out in Libya a month ago.

The attack on Diabaly camp, only around 250 km (150 miles) northeast of the capital Bamako, surprised military officials, who suspected there had been complicity with the rebels on the inside.

"At Diabaly the army had one man killed, and the entire camp armoury was emptied of every gun," a senior military officer who declined to be identified told Reuters.

"The camp was commanded by a Tamashek who deserted several days ago. We're sure he was complicit in this attack," said the senior officer. Tamashek is the language spoken by most members of the nomadic Tuareg people of the Sahara.

As they made their getaway, the assailants looted a market place in the nearby locality of Dogofiri, making off with cereals and other foodstuffs, the officer said.

The other camp attacked, Aguelhoc, is in northeastern Mali near the Algerian border where Tuareg rebels have been most active and close to the scene of last weekend's attack.

The camp has been attacked before, meaning soldiers there were ready for an attack, the officer said.

"Aguelhoc Camp is well defended and (soldiers) even mounted a pursuit operation in the area," he said.

CEASEFIRE HOPES FADE

The attacks further undermined a month-old Libyan-brokered ceasefire to end months of sporadic attacks in Mali's thinly populated north.

The Defence Ministry has said its soldiers killed nine rebels and lost one of their own number on Saturday when Tuareg insurgents attacked a military convoy travelling between Aguelhoc and the town of Tessalit further north.

Under the April 3 ceasefire, rebels were meant to release 33 captured government soldiers they were holding hostage, but as by the weekend they had released just three, on health grounds.

Army officials have said they have remained on a combat footing despite the deal because the did not trust the rebels.

Mali's Tuareg, who rose up against the black African-led Bamako government during the 1960s and 1990s, have launched sporadic attacks on army units in the north since August 2007.

Analysts say Tuareg tribesmen are keen to control lucrative trans-Saharan smuggling routes which convey everything from counterfeit cigarettes and migrants to guns and cocaine.

Mali's eastern neighbour, Niger, has been racked by a similar revolt by Tuareg-led rebels who have targeted government forces around its uranium-producing north since February 2007, killing more than 70 government soldiers. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com) (Writing by Alistair Thomson; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

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