UPDATE - 2 UN peacekeepers killed in Mali explosion

ADDS REMARKS FROM UN SPECIAL REPRESENTATITVE

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) – Two UN peacekeepers in Mali died and four others were injured Monday when their logistics convoy hit an improvised explosive device, said a UN official.

The incident occurred north of the Mopti region, according to Olivier Salgado, a spokesman for the peacekeeping mission known as the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

“This morning, a logistics convoy of UN MINUSMA hit an improvised explosive device north of Mopti. According to a preliminary assessment, the explosion caused the death of two peacekeepers, four others were injured,” he said in a tweet.

El-Ghassim Wane, the special representative of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the head of MINUSMA, strongly condemned the attack on the convoy, which was on its way to the city of Timbuktu.

“This new attack, like the others that preceded it, is yet another reminder of the urgent need for even more sustained efforts to stabilize central Mali,” he said.

MINUSMA maintains more than 13,000 troops in the north and center of Mali to contain growing violence.

Since 2012, Mali has been battling violence orchestrated by militants in northern and central Mali targeting both soldiers and civilians.

In a related development, two Malian soldiers were killed and two others were wounded Monday in an attack by armed groups on troops in the Gao region, the government announced, days after an attack on a security post in the Mopti region in central Mali left 27 soldiers dead and 33 wounded.

Government forces launched an offensive, killing seven insurgents, the statement said.

Last month, European leaders announced the withdrawal of their forces deployed in Mali as part of a counter-terrorism mission, citing obstructions by Mali’s transitional authorities.

-Senior al-Qaeda leader killed

Meanwhile, the French army announced Monday that it had killed a senior member of al-Qaeda in Mali.

In a statement, the French forces said Algerian Yahia Djouadi, who goes by the alias Abu Ammar al-Jazairi, was killed in an overnight operation conducted on Feb. 25 by the Barkhane force, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Timbuktu.

Noting that Djouadi had been instrumental in al-Qaeda's expansion and terrorism in West Africa, it said his death would weaken and isolate the group, which calls itself al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

The statement added that the French troops had intended to capture him alive, but Djouadi did not allow this, which led to his death.

Djouadi, a seasoned member of the terror group, was reportedly an aide to the leader or Emir of the regional group, Abdelmalek Droukdel, who was killed in June 2020 by French forces.