Northern Mali: Three peacekeepers injured in the explosion of a mine

Bamako – Three peacekeepers of the United Nations Mission for Stabilization of Mali (MINUSMA) were injured Thursday in an explosion in a mine in their vehicle near Timbuktu in north, are we learned from UN sources.

“Today (Thursday, Ed) around 13h, a convoy of MINUSMA hit a mine on the axis Teherdge Timbuktu. Following the explosion, three peacekeepers were injured, ” said a statement from the MINSUMSA, which condemned a terrorist act with the aim of paralyzing the operations of the Mission in this part of Mali. ”

This attack comes on the eve of the International Day of UN Peacekeepers Friday as the MINUSMA is considered, with 35 killed in less than two years, as the riskiest of UN peacekeeping missions from Somalia in the 1990s .

These attacks against peacekeepers in northern Mali are often attributed to jihadist groups who occupied the region before being driven out by international intervention led by France in January 2013.

Although the jihadists have been scattered and largely driven from the area, even entire areas are beyond the control of the Malian authorities.