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9 United Nations peacekeepers were killed Friday in an ambush in northeastern Mali, a spokesman for the U.N. mission in the West African country said.
“This morning, a convoy of MINUSMA peacekeepers from the Nigerien contingent was the target of a direct attack while travelling to Indelimane, in the Menaka-Asongo corridor. A provisional toll indicated nine deaths,” the UN mission in Mali said in a statement issued on Friday.
The mission has not announced any group responsible for the fatal assault.
However, a Nigerien officer from the mission said the attackers belonged to the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group that has been responsible for numerous attacks in northern Mali in recent years.
The UN mission in Mali was established after the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2100 on April 25, 2013. It is tasked with security-related operations in the African country.
In June, a vehicle exploded at the entrance of a UN camp in the town of Aguelhoc in the Kidal region of Mali. Four peacekeepers died and 10 others were injured.
Mali slid into chaos after President Amadou Toumani Toure was toppled in a military coup in March 2012.
The coup leaders said the move was in response to the government’s inability to contain a rebellion by Tuareg people in the north of the country.
Agencies/Canadajournal
