Suspected militants attacked a UN peacekeepers´ base in the northern Mali town of Kidal on Friday, killing three people and wounding others, a spokesman for the separatist Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) told
.The U.N. mission in Mali says three peacekeeping troops were killed Friday in an attack on a base in the northern town of Kidal.
U.N. mission (MINUSMA) head Mahamat Saleh Annadif says 30 other people were wounded in the early morning attack.
MINUSMA sources say suspected Islamist militants fired rockets at the camp. The French news agency, AFP, reports that the dead peacekeepers are from Guinea.
In his statement, Annadif expressed outrage at what he called "a hateful and irresponsible act."
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Several Islamist militant groups are active in northern Mali, including the Movement for Oneness (MUJAO) and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.
The groups ruled northern Mali for about 10 months after a coup in Bamako in April 2012, and remain a threat despite being ousted from power in a French-led military operation in early 2013.
Friday's ambush came a week after U.N. peacekeepers and Malian forces retook a police base in Timbuktu that was briefly seized by unknown assailants.
"There is gunfire and mortar fire against the MINUSMA (U.N. peacemaking mission) camp.
It is an attack by the militants, apparently involving a suicide car bomb," said CMA spokesman Radouane Ag Mohamed Aly.
A UN spokesman said there were some dead and wounded in the attack, which began at 6:45 a.m. (0645 GMT).
He said there had been eight mortar shells as well as gunfire.
A separate UN source, who was at the base but declined to be identified, said two people had been killed.
