Al Qaeda affiliate Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) claimed responsibility for the attack.
After the shooting subsided, the capital was tense, with vigilante groups of youth patrolling the streets. Reuters saw the charred remains of one body. People nearby said it was a cigarette seller set on fire by youths because he was wearing a bullet belt, making them suspect he was an attacker.
Some residents said they still heard gunshots in the airport's vicinity in the afternoon, Reuters reported.
The pre-dawn attacks on strategic points in Bamako were a rare case of unrest reaching the capital after years of armed conflict in the hinterlands between government forces and Islamist rebels.
"Early this morning, a group of terrorists attempted to infiltrate the Faladie gendarmerie school. Mopping-up operations are currently under way," the army said in a statement.
MA/PR