5 killed as militants attack UN base in Mali

A mortar attack by militants has killed five UN peacekeepers stationed at their base located in Kidal, northern Mali.

The attack claimed by Mali jihadist group Ansar Dine saw the militants ram a van packed with explosives into the Kidal base hurting about thirty other people before attacking with mortar and machine gunfire.

Read also: 3 Malian soldiers killed in landmine explosion

Moments after the attack, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon condemned the attack on the base which has become the most dangerous of the UN’s current peacekeeping missions in recent times.

Ansar Dine (the group is responsible for several previous assaults) claimed the attack by a “Mauritanian jihadist” as “a message to the crusader aggressors and all those who support them” in a statement carried by a Mauritanian news agency.

Since 2012, the UN has been trying to restore peace to the northern part of Mali which was taken over by jihadists and ethnic Tuareg groups.

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