A policeman died and three others were wounded Monday in the latest in a string of attacks in a jihadist-hit region of Mali, a senior official said.

A gendarmerie post at Sebekoro in the Kita region, about 130 kilometres (80 miles) from the capital Bamako, came under attack at around 2 a.m., local prefect Djiby Diawara told AFP.

"The toll -- one gendarme killed, three wounded, one of them seriously, who was taken to the military clinic in Kati," he said.

"We are preparing to bury the young gendarme who was killed," he said.

The attack is the third to have occurred close to Bamako in the past week. 

The two previous assaults, which killed two firefighters and three civilians, were claimed by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), led by an Al-Qaeda-linked Tuareg, Iyad Ag Ghali.

(With input from AFP)