Fifteen UN peacekeepers injured in explosion while withdrawing from Mali

UNITED NATIONS: Fifteen UN peacekeepers in a convoy withdrawing from a rebel stronghold in northern Mali were injured when vehicles hit improvised explosive devices on two occasions this week, the United Nations said on Friday.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said eight peacekeepers injured Wednesday were evacuated by air and “are now reported to be in stable condition.”

He said seven peacekeepers injured by an IED early Friday also were evacuated by air. He did not give their conditions.

Dujarric said the peacekeepers, who were withdrawing weeks earlier than planned because of growing insecurity, suffered two other IED attacks after leaving their base in Kidal on October 31.

JNIM, an extremist group with links to al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the earlier attacks, in which at least two peacekeepers were injured.

He said the UN hoped the convoy would complete the estimated 350-kilometre journey to Gao, a staging point for peacekeeping departures, by the end of the weekend.

In June, Mali’s military junta, which overthrew the democratically elected president in 2021, ordered the nearly 15,000-strong UN peacekeeping force known as MINUSMA to leave after a decade of working on stemming a jihadi insurgency.