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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

Fourth UN Peacekeeper Dies in Mali Attack

UN peacekeepers patrol in the northern town of Kouroume, Mali May 13, 2015. Kourome is 18 km (11 miles) south of Timbuktu. REUTERS/Adama Diarra

A UN soldier among peacekeepers who were attacked in Mali on Wednesday has died from his wounds, bring the death toll to four, the United Nations said Thursday.

A number of peacekeepers were killed and wounded in central Mali on Wednesday after a convoy struck an explosive device and came under fire, the UN said in a statement.

Three were killed, and "a fourth Blue Helmet has sadly died of his wounds," MINUSMA spokesman Olivier Salgado said on social media.

It was not clear who carried out the attack about 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the town of Bambara-Maoudé in the Timbuktu region.

Militant groups linked to Qaeda and ISIS operate in the region and have made much of the West African country ungovernable.

The dead peacekeepers were from Ivory Coast, the country’s defense ministry said in a statement, Reuters reported.

The UN mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, has over 13,000 troops to contain violence caused by various armed groups in the north and center of the country.

The mission has recorded about 230 fatalities since then, making it the deadliest of the UN’s more than dozen peacekeeping missions.

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