Photo: Brahima Ouedraogo/IRIN

Islamist fighters in northern Mali.

Bamako — A car bomb has exploded in the northern Mali town of Kidal, killing seven people, reports say.

The attack has allegedly targeted a checkpoint held by a group of Tuareg which has come out in support of France's military intervention.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced Malians are too afraid to return home, said senior UN humanitarian official.

Although Islamist militants were driven out of Kidal and other strongholds, they have carried on staging raids and bombings.

Some 430,000 people who fled the militant takeover of northern Mali last year, are still afraid to return to their homes despite the security situation improving, said John Ging, from the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.