NOUAKCHOTT: Mauritania warplanes attacked militants of Al-Qaeda`s north African wing in northern Mali, senior officers said Sunday, but several politicians in Mali said the strikes had killed civilians.

A Mauritanian military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP the planes had destroyed three vehicles carrying fighters.

He did not say how many militants were killed or wounded in the strikes, which came on the third day of an offensive against Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

But he said a woman he described as "the wife of a terrorist" was among the dead.

"Sunday`s raids against AQIM in the north of Mali have already allowed the destruction of three vehicles carrying terrorists from seven targeted vehicles in a convoy," the official said.

It was a "logical continuation" of an offensive that started on Friday and continued Saturday, which also included aircraft, after a convoy of militants was spotted approaching the Mauritanian border from Mali, he said.

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was "personally supervising operations" and was due to meet with senior defence staff later on Sunday, a source close to the presidency told AFP.

But a local mayor in Mali denounced the air raids, saying the victims had been Malian civilians.

"I am currently at the hospital in Timbuktu," said Mohamed Lamine Ould Sidate, mayor of the nearby town of Ber.

"Two women from our region are dead and four men are wounded after gunfire from a Mauritanian plane this morning on their vehicle," he said.

Their bullet-riddled car was in the courtyard of the hospital, he added.

"We are angry. We, the civilians, we have nothing to do with this business and here they are killing us."

A source at the hospital said one of the dead women was in fact a minor. And one Malian security source spoke of a blunder by the Mauritanian army.

A senior Mauritanian officer dismissed the claims of civilian casualties.

"Our targets are armed terrorists," the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. "If there is anyone who profits from these kinds of allegations, it it certainly propaganda of the terrorists."

But other Malian politicians joined the condemnation of the air raids later Sunday.

"I condemn the death of civilians, who in no circumstances should be targeted," said Assarid Ag Imbarca-Wane, vice president of Mali`s National Assembly, in a statement.

"We are in the struggle against AQIM, but civilians must be protected," he added.

Mohamed Ould Sidi, a deputy for Timbuktu, where the incident happened, called for an official inquiry.

"Tension is high among the population," he said from Timbuktu. "I saw the bodies of our sisters," he added, referring to the women who were killed.

"They have nothing to do with the terrorists. It is the Mauritanian army who killed our sisters," he added.

The attacks followed Thursday`s kidnapping by suspected AQIM militants in northern Niger of five French nationals and a Togolese and a Madagascan.

French government spokesman Luc Chatel on Sunday refused to rule out taking military action to free the seven hostages but said no French troops were involved in the latest Mauritianian offensive against AQIM.

French officials have said they believe the kidnappers were connected to AQIM and had taken the hostages to Mali.

In July French commandos accompanied Mauritanian troops in a raid on an Al-Qaeda camp in Mali, which left seven militants dead but failed to find French hostage Michel Germaneau, now known to be have been killed.

Security sources in Mali and Niger meanwhile said French reconnaissance planes had been searching several countries in the Sahel region since Thursday`s abductions.

The Sahel is a mainly desert region that covers Mali, southern Mauritania, southern Niger and several other countries, and includes areas where the north African branch of Osama bin Laden`s terror network operates.