Three Senegalese peacekeepers of the UN Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) were killed and five others wounded after a home-made bomb went off in the center of the country on Tuesday.
The MINUSMA did not specify the nationalities of the victims, but according to information from APA, they belong to the Senegalese contingent deployed in central Mali, a country plagued by a jihadist insurgency originating in the north for over a decade.
The patrol of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali hit an improvised explosive device (IED) in the center of the country, according to a provisional assessment provided by the UN Mission.
Such insecurity, linked to the activities of groups linked to Al Qaeda or the Islamic State, was the reason for the overthrow of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020 by colonels.
The same military removed the transitional president and his prime minister nine months later and installed one of its own, Colonel Assimi Goita in power.
Ever since, diplomatic relations between Mali and its former colonial power France have deteriorated.
Bamako, which accuses Paris of having abandoned its fight against terrorism when President Emmanuel Macron announced the reorganisation of France’s Barkhane military operation in the country, later found a new ally in Moscow.
In the aftermath, the use of mercenaries from the Russian paramilitary group, Wagner hastened the definitive withdrawal of French soldiers from Mali.
Last June, during the renewal of the MINUSMA mandate, Bamako opposed the continuation of French operations in favour of the UN mission.
AC/cgd/fss/as/APA
