2 UN Peacekeepers Killed in Mali Suicide Attack
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Two United Nations peacekeepers, from Burkina Faso, were killed in a suicide car bombing in northern Mali, the UN and Mali security sources said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was "deeply saddened" by the deaths and the wounding of at least seven other peacekeepers in Ber, a village in Mali's Timbuktu region.
"Jihadists carried out a car bombing at the MINUSMA (United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali) camp in Ber on Saturday," a Mali security source told AFP.
One of the peacekeepers died immediately, and another succumbed later to injuries he received during the attack, a MINUSMA source said.
The car carrying the bomb entered the camp "at high speed... there was a huge explosion," the source added.
Mali descended into crisis in January 2012, when Tuareg separatists who have waged a long-running, low-level insurgency mounted a string of attacks that the army was ill-equipped to defend.
A military coup in Bamako led to further chaos as extremists seized the north of Mali.
A French-led military operation launched in January 2013 ousted the extremists. But periodic attacks have resumed.
UN peacekeepers took over security duties from African troops in Mali in July 2013, with a mission to ensure stability in the conflict-scarred nation after groups linked to Al-Qaeda occupied much of the north of the country.
