Mali experienced another bloody day on Friday with two attacks, the first against a military post in its central part, which resulted in the death of six soldiers, the second against UN blue helmets in the north, with 15 wounded.
The attack on the military post in the village of Boni resulted in the death of six soldiers and the wounding of another. In February, ten other soldiers were killed in an attack in the same village. The military “repelled” the “simultaneous attacks” that were launched in this village yesterday afternoon, the staff said via Facebook.
Earlier in the day, 15 United Nations blue helmets, mostly German soldiers, were injured in a car bomb blast in the north of the country.
Three of the 12 German blue helmets are seriously injured, said German Defense Minister Annegret Krab-Karenbauer. Both are in stable condition, the third underwent surgery. They were airlifted by helicopter, according to the minister. An aircraft was expected at night in Gao, the nearest major city, to pick up the most seriously injured soldiers today. A Belgian soldier was also wounded, the Belgian Ministry of Defense said. He was offered first aid on the spot before being admitted to hospital.
The UN mission in Mali, MINUSMA, said 15 people were injured in a kamikaze bomb attack on a campaign base near the village of Isagara. MINUSMA had set up this base on Thursday, in order to proceed with the towing of the mission vehicle, its representative explained. The vehicle was damaged earlier the day before yesterday, when an improvised explosive device was detonated.
The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a MINUSMA convoy accompanying a “reorganized” Mali Armed Forces battalion, a unit of former guerrillas who had previously fought against the regular army in the north before the 2015 peace deal was signed. , clarified a source close to the international forces.
Target attacks
Since 2012, when a clash broke out between government forces on the one hand, separatist rebels and jihadists in the north on the other, an endless storm has erupted in Mali, killing thousands of civilians and protesters, despite the support of the international community and the United Nations, African countries and France.
The separatists signed a peace agreement in 2015. But in Mali the activities of organizations that swear allegiance to either Al Qaeda or the Islamic State, inter-communal violence and smuggling of all kinds continue. Violence has spread to neighboring countries, Burkina Faso and Niger.
MINUSMA, which has about 18,300 members, including 13,200 troops, is often the target of attacks, as are forces from Mali and France. It is the MINUSMA mission that suffers the most losses worldwide.
German Foreign Minister Haiko Maas condemned the “heinous attack” which “underlined once again how important it is to deal with terrorists”. German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was “shocked”. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres staged the attack, wishing “a speedy recovery to our injured colleagues” in a statement issued by his spokesman in New York.
The diplomacy of France, a country that has suffered 50 casualties in its armed forces in the region since 2013, “strongly condemned the attack”, reiterated its full support for MINUSMA, which plays a key role for the stabilization of Mali “and” praised the commitment of the contributing countries “to it, in a statement issued by Ced d’Orsay.
After more than eight years, French President Emmanuel Macron announced in June the reduction of the French military presence in the Sahel, with the closure of bases and the reorganization of operations against the jihadists with the participation of an international alliance consisting mainly of European states. .
France will “remain” on the side of “all its partners in the Sahel” in the fight “against the scourge of terrorism”, the French Foreign Minister assured.
Paris recently announced that it had decided to suspend joint operations with Mali’s armed forces following a military coup – the second in nine months – after which Colonel Asimi Goita took over as interim president.
