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One killed, three injured in 'terrorist attack' on peacekeepers in Mali

Thursday, 02 June 2022 5:33 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 02 June 2022 5:34 AM ]

United Nations MUNISMA peacekeepers patrol the streets of Gao, in eastern Mali, on August 3, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

A UN peacekeeping convoy has been targeted with a "terrorist attack" in northen 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 about 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.

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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