AMN /
Nine troops including six UN Peacekeepers were killed and around 30 injured when suspected Islamist militants attacked their base with mortars and machine guns in northern Mali town of Kidal Friday. Officials said, three Malian soldiers died in an ambush as militants intensify attacks in the restive region. They said, the six Guinean Peacekeepers belonging to the United Nation’s MINUSMA were killed in an assault on a camp.
The latest attacks highlighted the vulnerability of Mali’s sprawling arid north, where UN troops and Malian soldiers are struggling in their fight against militants who seized vast swathes of territory in 2012.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the massive attack on the MINUSMA base. He warned that targeting peacekeepers constitutes a war crime and pledged to support the Malian government.