One killed, three injured in ‘terrorist attack’ on peacekeepers in Mali

One killed, three injured in 'terrorist attack' on peacekeepers in Mali
Senegalese soldierS the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali MINUSMA (United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali) dismount an armoured personnel carrier, patrolling in the streets of Gao, on July 24, 2019, a day after suicide bombers in a vehicle painted with UN markings injured one French, several Estonian troops and two Malian civilians in an attack on an international peace-keeping base in Mali. - Malian authorities have struggled to improve security since France intervened in 2013 to drive back Islamic insurgents in the north. Around 4,000 French troops are deployed under Operation Barkhane alongside the MINUSMA peacekeeping force of around 15,000 soldiers and police. (Photo by Souleymane Ag Anara / AFP) (Photo credit should read SOULEYMANE AG ANARA/AFP via Getty Images)

A UN peacekeeping convoy has been targeted by a “terrorist attack” in northern Mali, resulting in the death of one peacekeeper, the UN peacekeeping force MINUSMA says.

The attack took place as a group of peacekeepers was patrolling in the northern city of Kidal on Wednesday, MINUSMA spokesman Olivier Salgado said in a tweet.

Three members were also wounded.

The casualties were all Jordanian members of the UN mission.

No other details were available, including who specifically was responsible.

MINUSMA, or the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, has been stationed in different Malian areas since 2013 to purportedly fight terrorist groups in the West African country.

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The number of people killed in the first quarter of 2022 by terrorist and extremist groups as well as security forces in Mali quadrupled over the last three months of 2021, rising from 128 to 543.

Mali has been battling militant groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and Daesh for almost a decade, with around two-thirds of its territory outside state control. The militants began operations in Mali in 2012, and the conflict has since spread to neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso, killing and displacing thousands of civilians.

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