DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Fighters from one of the al-Qaida-linked rebel groups controlling northern Mali on Friday attacked a position held by a secular rebel group, in the first clash between the two sides since the Islamists seized the territory in June, according to local officials and a rebel spokesman.

The fighting, which began at around 10 a.m. local time near the northern locality of Ansongo, comes as the secular National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, or NMLA, held its first mediation session with the Islamists in the capital of neighboring Burkina Faso.