Militants in UN disguise attack Mali bases

BAMAKO: Militants disguised as UN peacekeepers detonated two suicide car bombs and fired dozens of rockets at the French and United Nations bases in Mali’s city of Timbuktu on Saturday, killing one and wounding many, Malian authorities said.

The UN mission confirmed that one of its peacekeepers had been killed.

The Malian government said 10 soldiers from France had been wounded, but the French mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Terrorists wearing blue helmets aboard two cars laden with explosives, including one in the colours of the Malian army and another with ‘UN’ written in it, attempted to infiltrate these camps,” the government statement said. “The situation is now under control.” UN peacekeeping and French military forces stationed in northern Mali have been under near-constant attack over the past year by determined and well-armed extremist groups seen as the gravest threat to security across Africa’s Sahel region.

But even by the standards of Mali’s increasingly emboldened militants, Saturday’s attempted breach of two foreign bases at once was ambitious.

“MINUSMA confirms a significant complex attack on its camp in Timbuktu; mortars, exchange of fire, vehicle suicide bomb attack,” the UN mission tweeted.

“One blue helmet was killed in the exchange of fire.”

The United Nations last month said 162 people deployed in Mali have been killed since 2013, making it the world’s deadliest peacekeeping operation to date. – Reuters