Mali soldier killed in Timbuktu suicide bomb attack 21 March 2013 Last updated at 10:26 A suicide attack has killed a Malian soldier in the historic city of Timbuktu, the army says. The attacker set off an explosive vest inside a car which had been stopped at a checkpoint near the airport, a military source said. This is said to be the first suicide attack in Timbuktu since French-led forces ousted Islamist militants from the city in January. On Wednesday, militants said they had killed a French hostage in Mali. The French government said it was still trying to verify the claim by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) that it had executed Philippe Verdon on 10 March, in retaliation for France's intervention in Mali. France sent troops in January to regain the north from a loose coalition of militant Islamist groups, saying they threatened to turn the whole of Mali into a "terrorist state." Mopping up "A booby-trapped car exploded during the night [Wednesday] near the Timbuktu airport," a military source told the AFP news agency. The jihadist who set off his belt was killed instantly and one of the soldiers injured in the explosion died in hospital. The attack happened a day after French President Francois Hollande said the military operation in Mali was "in the last phase," AFP reports. Treasures of Timbuktu Timbuktu was a centre of Islamic learning from the 13th to the 17th Centuries 700,000 manuscripts had survived in public libraries and private collections Books on religion, law, literature and science Added to Unesco world heritage list in 1988 for its three mosques and 16 cemeteries and mausoleums They played a major role in spreading Islam in West Africa; the oldest dates from 1329 Islamists destroyed mausoleums after seizing the city Malian army spokesman Capt Samba Coulibaly said the suicide bombing took place at a road block manned by Malian soldiers, just before a French checkpoint, Reuters news agency reports. "We are mopping up to see if there are any other attackers in the area," he is quoted as saying. French army spokesman Colonel Thierry Burkhard said French and Malian forces had repelled an attempt by militants to infiltrate Timbuktu's airport, Reuters reports. There were no French casualties, he added. France currently has 4,000 troops in Mali, backed by thousands of Malian, Chadian and other African forces. Their military campaign has focused in recent weeks on the remote Ifoghas mountains near the Algeria border, where the militants are believed to have fled after losing control of the main cities. However, there were two suicide bombings in the city of Gao last month. On Tuesday the French army said 15 Islamist fighters had been killed in recent days in Gao, and a large cache of weapons seized. At least 26 Chadian and five French soldiers had died in combat in Mali since their deployment, AFP reports. France hopes to begin withdrawing its forces from Mali at the end of April.