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Monday 9 March 2015

In mali, Rocket attack on UN base leaves 3 people dead


3 people have been killed with at least 21 people injured following a rocket attack on a United Nations base in the desert town ofKidal, northern Mali.
The BBC reports that about 30 rockets struck the base at about 6:00 GMT killing a peace keeper while some rockets missed their target, killing two civilians.
The attackers are currently unknown although Islamist activist are active in that region.
It would be recalled that a bar in the Malian capital, Bamako had been attacked on Saturday during which 5 people were killed including 3 expatriates.
Al-Qaeda-linked group, Al-Murabitoun, which is an Islamist group led by Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar, has since claimed responsibility for the bar attack saying it was a "revenge operation" against the "infidel West".
Northern Mali has been a hotbed of conflict since Mali's independence from French rule in 1960, with Tuareg rebels campaigning for independence.
To this end, Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants and Tuaregrebels have been fighting the army in northern Mali for several years now and 2 years ago, France, the former colonial power in Mali, intervened to stop their advance south of Bamako.
The United Nations mission, Minusma, however took over security duties from France in 2013 and regularly comes under attack from militants.

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