At least 20 civilians were killed in attacks on villages near the town of Gao in eastern Mali over the weekend, a senior police official told AFP. A UN soldier was also killed this weekend in Kidal, 300 km away.
It has not been officially confirmed whether the attacks were carried out by jihadist groups. But since 2012, Mali has been fighting an uprising of groups linked to jihadist terrorist groups. The country has been ruled by a military junta since August 2020.
Following the attacks, a UN soldier is also reported to have been killed by a mine near the town of Kidal, about 300 km north of Gao.
According to a source to AFP, the soldier belonged to the Guinean group in Minusma and died according to information from his injuries at the hospital in Kidal.
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the killer came from Guinea.
“Attacks on UN peacekeeping forces can constitute war crimes under international law,” the spokesman said.
No later than June 4, two Egyptian Minusma soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb, three days before a soldier was killed in an attack on a convoy.
The UN has around 13,000 soldiers in Mali through the operation Minusma, among them Swedes. The peacekeeping force is one of the largest in the UN and is considered one of the most dangerous. To date, 175 UN soldiers have been killed in attacks since Minsuma was formed in 2013.