NIAMEY, April 20 (Reuters) - Suspected Tuareg rebels attacked a French-run uranium mine in the Saharan north of Niger on Friday and killed one soldier, company and military officials said.

A company spokesman blamed the attack in the remote northern region on the little-known "Movement of Nigeriens for Justice", which claimed responsibility for killing three soldiers in a village in the region in February.

Friday's attack, carried out in the early hours, targeted the Imouraren mine operated by a subsidiary of French mining group AREVA <CEPFi.PA> more than 1,200 km (750 miles) northeast of the capital, Niamey, near the border with Algeria.

Niger is the world's third biggest uranium miner but remains one of the poorest countries and was bottom of the latest United Nations Human Development Index ranked by quality of life.

"The attack came as a surprise. We lost one of our men and there were several wounded. The army pursued them," said a military official from the northern town of Agadez, who declined to be named. None of the mine staff was injured.

Next Tuesday the former French colony Niger will mark the anniversary of the signing of a 1995 peace deal that ended years of rebellion by nomadic northern tribesmen, notably light-skinned Tuareg, who complain of being disenfranchised by the black African-led government in Niamey.

But despite the promotion of Tuareg officials to senior administrative positions and programmes to integrate thousands of former fighters into government forces or civilian jobs, insecurity remains rife around ancient trade routes criss-crossing the Sahara.

In early March, soldiers killed five gunmen in a clash, and a fortnight ago the army arrested around 10 armed men and seized three trucks carrying arms and drugs.

Last year members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the Sahara, a movement of another northern tribe, the Toubou, captured more than 20 European tourists and held two Italians hostage for several weeks before releasing them.

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