Mali mortar attack injures 18 UN troops, 2 civilians
An internal UN report said 15 mortar rounds landed "inside and around" the military base in northern Mali
January 09, 2020
Eighteen United Nations (UN) troops and two civilians were wounded in a mortar attack on a military base in northern Mali on Thursday, as reported by a UN official, after the war-torn country faced fresh violence by a militancy.
Olivier Salgado, the spokesperson for the UN mission in Mali, said the toll was "preliminary."
Mali has been struggling to contain an extremist insurgency that erupted in the north in 2012, which has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives since.
Read more: Mali helicopter collision: 13 French soldiers killed
An internal UN report seen by AFP said 15 mortar rounds landed "inside and around" the military base in Tessalit, in northern Mali, close to the border with Algeria.
Camp personnel took shelter in a bunker, the report said, adding that two Malian civilians were wounded in the section of camp harbouring French soldiers.
Some 4,500 French troops are deployed in the Sahel region, while the UN has a 13,000-strong peacekeeping force in Mali.
The Tessalit camp hosts a battalion of troops from Chad, as well French troops.
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