Qaeda-linked group claims deadly UN base attack

A powerful al-Qaeda-linked group yesterday claimed an attack on a United Nations camp that killed three Guinean peacekeepers in Kidal in Mali's troubled north.

The Group to Support Islam and Muslims, a fusion of three Malian jihadist groups with previous Al-Qaeda links, posted a statement on its Telegram channel saying it had targeted the UN base "with a set of mortar shells", wounding soldiers and causing significant material damage, the SITE extremism monitor reported.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

The UN mission in Mali, MINUSMA, said earlier yesterday its Kidal camp "came under heavy rocket/mortar fire" and "a little later a position nearby was attacked" outside their base, killing three peacekeepers and wounding eight more.

The Group to Support Islam and Muslims, also known as Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen in Arabic, is a fusion of three Malian jihadist groups with previous Al-Qaeda links formed in March.

Led by the Malian jihadist Iyad Ag Ghaly, a former leader of the Ansar Dine Islamists, the group has claimed multiple attacks on domestic and foreign forces since its formation.

The UN mission said it "condemned in the strongest terms these cowardly attacks against its personnel and the danger they cause for the civilian population."

The Guinean government said "terrorist attacks" had killed "three valiant soldiers (and) wounded three others" at a checkpoint just outside the camp, adding that one of its contingent remained unaccounted for.

The attack is just the latest to target the 12,000-strong UN force in the west African nation.

Guinean and Chadian soldiers make up the majority of troops stationed at the Kidal camp, where seven Guineans were killed in February 2016 by suicide bombers.