Twenty-seven people were killed in clashes between members of the same Tuareg tribe in Mali's troubled northeast earlier this week, the West African state's security ministry said.
Previous reports said 12 people had died in the violence on Tuesday, which took place in a region near the Niger border affected by chronic unrest between local tribes and jihadist militants.
"Clashes occurred in the area of Inekar, 45 kilometres (28 miles) west of the town of Menaka, between members of the Idourfane community," a Tuareg tribe, the ministry said in a statement Thursday.
"This unfortunate event has unfortunately cost the lives of 27 people, and injured one." Army troops supported by police have been deployed to the region to stabilise the situation and "find out the motive for such a violent outburst within a single community".
A local official earlier said that "armed men on motorcycles killed at least 12 civilians," citing a resident of the town who claimed to have seen the bodies.
The official, who asked not to be named, added that "for now we do not know exactly who did it. I don't know if it was the result of a dispute between tribes or a terrorist act."