Two civilians and a UN peacekeeper were killed on Sunday as militants attacked a barracks used by the United Nations’ MINUSMA force in northern Mali

Two civilians and a UN peacekeeper were killed on Sunday as militants attacked a barracks used by the United Nations' MINUSMA force in northern Mali, it said in a statement.
  
"This morning around 5:40am (0540 GMT), the MINUSMA camp in Kidal suffered more than 30 rockets and shells during a complex attack," the force said in a statement. "Once the source of the shooting was established, MINUSMA force soldiers immediately returned fire two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the camp, around 6:00 am.
  
"An initial assessment revealed the death of a MINUSMA soldier and that eight soldiers were wounded. The rockets also hit Kidal citizens outside the camp, and two deaths and four wounded were counted."
  
The statement said some of the wounded were being treated at the barracks, and that air and ground patrols had been launched.

A MINUSMA source told AFP the civilian victims were members of the nomadic Arab Kunta tribe, which is spread across the Saharan regions of Mali, Algeria, Mauritania and Niger. Their encampment near the UN base was hit by stray rockets as the attack got underway, the source said.