MOSCOW, January 17 (Sputnik) — A UN soldier in Mali was killed early on Saturday when gunmen launched a fresh attack on the camp housing UN troops in the country’s north, a source told AFP.
"Terrorists attacked the Minusma camp in the early morning hours on Saturday", a UN source who did not want to be named told AFP. "Minusma soldiers responded and unfortunately one Chadian soldier was killed, another injured."
The accident took place at about 6:00 a.m. (local time) in the northern town of Kidal. Residents said at least two suicide bombers were involved and a car bomb was detonated, BBC reports.
The attack came after the latest raid by suspected jihadists in Mali’s restive north just a day after two Malian soldiers were killed in the central town of Tenenkou.
MINUSMA is a United Nations peacekeeping mission established in August 2013 to stabilize the situation in Mali after the 2012 Tuareg rebellion against the Malian government seeking independence for the country’s northern region.
The vast region surrended to Islamist groups in 2012 before the extremists were routed from the area by a French-led military intervention. The latter was later replaced by the UN Minusma force.
