A peacekeeper was killed and four others seriously wounded Friday in an attack near Timbuktu in northern Mali, a country plagued by jihadist spread and violence of all kinds, the UN mission MINUSMA said.
A patrol "was the target of a complex attack" near Ber where it first hit a mine before coming under fire, MINUSMA reported on Twitter, information confirmed to AFP by a spokeswoman. The "preliminary information" reported one dead and four seriously injured, MINUSMA said. She did not specify the nationality of the peacekeepers.
Deep security crisis
Since 2012, Mali has been plagued by a deep security crisis in the north that has spread to the centre of the country and neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger. It is delivered to the abuses of armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State organization, but also to the violence of so-called self-defense groups, bandits and even regular forces.
MINUSMA, with about 12,000 troops deployed, is a prime target for jihadists who target the foreign presence and symbols of the state. Since its creation in 2013, 186 of its members have died in hostile acts. It is the most casual UN mission in the world in recent years.
