Soldiers under the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) on Wednesday morning repelled an attack in Kéréna.
“This morning around 7 a.m., a temporary base of MINUSMA in Kerena, located near Douentza, in central Mali, was the target of a complex attack,” the UN mission in the country said in a statement.
The swift response of the peacekeepers repelled the attackers, who fled.
According to a provisional assessment shortly after the incident, about twenty peacekeepers were found to have been wounded, the statement added.
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Mali, Mahamat Saleh Annadif “strongly condemned this cowardly attack against the peacekeepers.”
“We have been carrying out numerous security operations in this part of Mali for several months now, the main objective of which is to help reduce violence against the population, restore calm in areas where community tensions are reported, and reduce the threat of improvised explosive devices, as is the case in the Douentza region. These operations disturb the enemies of peace, but we remain committed to stand by the Malians, for the Malians,” he said.
Annadif assured Malians that all measures will be taken to ensure that the wounded receive prompt and appropriate care for their recovery.
TE/lb/as/APA