A Senegalese peacekeeper was killed Tuesday as a UN camp in northern Mali came under rocket fire in an attack blamed on an extremist leader driven from the country by French troops.
A Senegalese peacekeeper was killed Tuesday as a UN camp in northern Mali came under rocket fire in an attack blamed on an extremist leader driven from the country by French troops.
The strike came just as the UN vowed to bolster defences for its troops in Mali after suffering its deadliest attack on Friday -- an ambush by Al-Qaeda-linked militants that claimed nine peacekeepers' lives.
"This is no longer in the context of maintaining peace," said Herve Ladsous, the UN's head of peacekeeping operations, as he announced deployments of drones and armored vehicles.
"We are required to take a series of measures ... to toughen up our bases, and boost our protection," he said at a press conference after a attending the nine peacekeepers' funeral in Mali's capital Bamako.
As he spoke, the UN mission came under a fresh attack, this time blamed on Iyad Ag Ghaly, who led a Tuareg rebellion in the Sahara before setting up the armed group Ansar Dine.
The extremist had disappeared in January 2013 soon after France intervened to drive militants back from Bamako but resurfaced last month to issue a video message signalling his return to combat.
He said his group was "ready to unite with our brothers on the ground to face up to the crusaders and infidels who have united to fight Islam in our land".
"The Malian Islamist Iyad Ag Ghaly has carried out his threat by attacking the camp of the UN mission in Kidal," a source from the UN's MINUSMA force in Mali told AFP.
The source said at least five rockets were fired and added that the "provisional death toll" was one peacekeeper, giving his nationality as Senegalese.
A resident of Kidal contacted by AFP by telephone confirmed the information.
"The camp was attacked, we heard loud noises. It's rockets. It's dark here now and we don't know what is happening," he said.
In New York, the UN Security Council condemned the attack and called on Bamako to launch an investigation and "bring the perpetrators to justice".
