By Tiemoko Diallo

BAMAKO, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Tuareg rebels, who hit a U.S. military plane with small arms fire this week, attacked a remote Mali army garrison on Friday, a Defence Ministry official said.

The rebels opened fire with automatic weapons around dawn at the northern garrison at Tin-Zaouatene, close to the border with Algeria, the official, who asked not to be named, said.

Malian troops fired back. The fighting halted later and there was no immediate report of casualties.

"Their objective is clear, to take 'Tin-Za'," the official said, adding the army was reinforcing positions at Tin-Zaouatene and elsewhere in the region.

In recent weeks, the rebels led by insurgent leader Ibrahima Bahanga, have carried out raids and ambushes in the north.

The Malian official said the rebels had blocked access roads to the garrison town by laying mines as part of their efforts to prevent supplies getting through.

A U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules was hit on Wednesday while dropping food supplies to the Tin-Zaouatene garrison, but it returned safely to Bamako and none of its crew were hurt, U.S. officials said.

Washington views Mali as an ally in its war on terrorism and its forces regularly train Malian troops. U.S. military officials said the resupply flight to Tin-Zaouatene was not a regular occurrence, but they did not rule out others.

The nomadic light-skinned Tuaregs in northern Mali and neighbouring Niger have long complained of being marginalised by black-dominated governments ruling far away in the south.

Some of the nomadic fighters, who staged an uprising in the former French colonies in the 1990s, have renewed attacks in recent months in both countries.

They demand more autonomy and a greater share in their region's wealth. But the Niger and Malian governments have dismissed them as renegades and bandits involved in arms- and drugs-trafficking.

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