Chadian peacekeepers killed in Mali

MARCY OSTER

An Al Qaeda-linked Islamist group in Mali, called Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, claimed responsibility for the attack on a UN camp in northern Mali on Sunday, shortly after Netanyahu and Chad President Idriss Déby announced that the two countries would re-establish diplomatic ties.

The claim of responsibility for the attack and the reason for it was relayed by the Mauritanian Al-Akhbar news agency, which receives statements from the group, the French news agency AFP reported.

In addition to the 10 murdered peacekeepers, another 25 were injured.

Mahamat Saleh Annadif, the UN envoy for Mali, called the attack “vile and criminal”. He said the terrorists had “arrived in several armed vehicles”.

“It demands a robust, immediate, and concerted response from all forces to annihilate the peril of terrorism in the Sahel” region of Africa, his statement read.

The UN Security Council later on Sunday condemned the attack, and paid homage to the peacekeepers.

There are about 13 000 UN peacekeepers deployed in Mali to protect against violence by Islamist militias.