A roadside bomb blast kills UN peacekeepers in Central Mali | United Nations News
Seven MINUSMA soldiers have been killed after a UN force struck the explosive device, according to the target.
A roadside bomb blast in central Mali has killed seven United Nations peacekeepers and seriously injured three others, according to a UN statement on Twitter.
A group of gunmen struck a bomb blast Wednesday in Bandiagara area of Mopti province as they rode between the towns of Douentza and Sevare, the area where al-Qaeda-linked militants and ISIL (ISIS) operate.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.
Mali, one of the largest and poorest countries in Africa, is fighting violence which has grown despite the nine-year struggle of the international military under the leadership of the former French colonial power to conquer.
The UN peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSMA, has sent more than 13,000 troops to quell violence in the north and central parts of the country that began in 2012 and spread three years later in Niger and Burkina Faso.
Thousands of people across the country have died, and at least two million have been displaced.
The UN has recorded more than 230 deaths among its troops since 2013, making it the deadliest of the 12 UN peacekeeping missions.
On Monday, a MINUSMA soldier died from gunshot wounds near a northern town of Tessalit on November 22.
He was rushed to the Senegalese capital Dakar with two other wounded soldiers.
