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Attacks in Mali Leave 1 UN Peacekeeper Dead, 8 Hurt

by Associated Press

   BAMAKO, MALI --

   Attacks targeting a camp in northern Mali operated by the United
   Nations peacekeeping mission Monday killed one soldier from Chad and
   wounded eight others, U.N. officials said.

   Olivier Salgado, spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali,
   said Monday that after a mortar attack on the camp in Aguelhok, in the
   northern Kidal region around 2 p.m., two vehicles hit improvised
   explosive devices.

   According to preliminary information, four different attacks targeted
   U.N. personnel at the camp in Aguelhok, according to a statement
   released by the secretary-general's spokesman.

   No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

   Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attacks and called for
   swift action to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice, the
   statement said. It added that attacks against U.N. peacekeepers
   "constitute war crimes under international law."

   Islamic extremists took control of northern Mali in 2012, prompting a
   French-led intervention that drove them from cities and towns in 2013.

   However, north and central Mali remain unstable, and attacks by
   al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and linked groups against peacekeepers
   and security forces are common.