Thirteen peacekeepers wounded, six soldiers killed in armed attacks in Mali

By Tiemoko Diallo, BAMACO, Mali

Thirteen UN peacekeepers, 12 Germans and a Belgian, were injured in a car bomb in northern Mali on Friday, the UN mission said, while the Mali army said six of its troops were were killed in a separate attack in the center of the country.

The attack in the north is aimed at a temporary base set up by peacekeepers near the village of Ichagara in the Gao region, where Islamist insurgents linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State are operating.

A spokesman for the UN mission said 12 of the wounded were Germans and one was Belgian. Earlier, the mission said 15 peacekeepers were injured, but revised that number down.

Three of the German soldiers were seriously wounded, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karenbauer said in a statement. Two of them are in stable condition and the third is still in surgery, she said.

At least six Malian soldiers have been killed and one wounded in a separate attack in Bonny in the neighboring Mopti region, an army statement said. Do not provide more details.

Armed attacks by Islamist militants and other groups are spreading to large parts of Mali and its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, despite the presence of peacekeepers and thousands of other international troops in the region.

The UN mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, has deployed more than 13,000 troops to reduce violence by armed groups in the north and central part of the West African country.

MINUSMA has registered about 230 deaths since 2013, making it the deadliest of more than a dozen UN peacekeeping missions.

Germany contributes up to 1,100 troops to MINUSMA. Most of them are based in Gao.