The attackers came on motorcycles around 5 am into Gourma-Rharouss, about 160 kilometres southeast of of the northern city of Timbuktu, said resident Moussa Cisse.
"They killed 10 soldiers, including a lieutenant. They burned two Malian army vehicles before leaving the village," he said.
Defense Ministry adviser Lt Col Diarran Kone confirmed the attack without giving a death toll.
The attack comes two days after two Malian soldiers were killed and five were injured in the south during an ambush on their convoy. The ambush occurred roughly 400 kilometres north of the capital, Bamako.
Mali's north fell under the control of Islamic extremists following a military coup in 2012. A French-led military intervention in 2013 scattered the extremists, though the region remains insecure despite the presence of UN peacekeepers.
Mali's government signed a peace deal with Tuareg separatist rebels earlier this year.