Around 20 peacekeepers were injured on Wednesday morning in an attack on their camp in Kéréna, in the Malian region of Mopti (center), the spokesperson for the Multidimensional Mission said on Wednesday. Integrated Organization for Stabilization in Mali (MINUSMA), Olivier Salgado.
“This morning at around 7 am, a temporary MINUSMA base in Kerena, located in the vicinity of Douentza, was the target of direct and indirect fire. During the attack and according to a provisional assessment, about twenty peacekeepers were wounded “, he said.
According to another source within MINUSMA, the wounded belonging to the Togolese contingent.
The head of the UN mission, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, “strongly condemned this cowardly attack on the peacekeepers” and made sure that all measures were taken to ensure that the wounded received appropriate treatment.
In January, five peacekeepers lost their lives in the framework of the peacekeeping mission in Mali, where terrorist threats have persisted since the coup of 2012. In 2020, six peacekeepers were killed on a mission.
MINUSMA was deployed in 2013 to support the peace process in Mali after the military coup, while extremist Islamist insurgents took control of the north of the country.
An UN-backed peace deal in 2015 between the government and various armed groups failed to stabilize the situation in the central and northern regions of the country, with attacks on the rise in recent years.
