Two UN peacekeepers and a civilian were killed and 14 others were injured in a rocket attack on Saturday on a UN base in the northeastern Malian town of Kidal, UN and local sources said.
“Our camp in Kidal was attacked early this morning by terrorists using rockets,” said an official from the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA), adding that two Guinean UN peacekeepers and a civilian contractor were killed.
A local official confirmed the report.
Another UN source said 14 others were injured in the attack, including three seriously.
The attack came eight days after a siege at a luxury hotel in Mali’s capital Bamako, in which 20 people died including 14 foreigners.
French troops and the UN force are struggling to stabilise the former French colony where militants attacked a hotel in the capital on Nov 20 and killed 20 people.
Three militant groups — Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI), its splinter group al Mourabitoun and Massina Liberation Front (MLF) — claimed the attack on the Radisson Blu hotel. Security analysts say they could be collaborating.
Northern Mali was occupied by militants, some with links to Al Qaeda, for most of 2012. They were driven out by a French-led military operation, but violence has continued.
Other West African governments are also battling militants. Boko Haram, the leading such group in the region, has this year extended its attacks from Nigeria to neighbouring states of Niger, Cameroon and Chad.
