In Mali, several camps of the UN mission (Minusma) were targeted by terrorist attacks, Monday, August 14 in the center and north of the country. The two reports talk about ten deaths.
No attack has yet been claimed, but all have been operated in the same way … or almost. On Monday morning, armed men stormed the Minusma camp in Douentza, in the Mopti region. A rain of shots targets a camp of the mission from an “adjacent hill” while other assailants on foot are heading for another. Malian soldiers and peacekeepers react and manage to repel the attackers “after killing two of them,” according to local sources and the Minusma who also confirm the death of a Malian soldier and a peacekeeper.
Nearly seven hours later, a pick-up dropped at least several armed men near the Minusma headquarters in Timbuktu, in the north of the country. They head towards the entrance and open fire on the guards of a private security company. “Five were killed,” according to the Malian army at least four, according to local sources. Attackers penetrate the mission’s premises and continue to fire. The Malian army and peacekeepers close the area and an assault is given later. According to our sources, at least three assailants were killed and one other captured by Malian forces. “Unfortunately, an adjutant was also killed,” the army said. There would also be an unidentified body.
In Mali, the security situation is still precarious. The peace agreement signed in 2015 is at a deadlock as the G5-Sahel countries struggle to finance the anti-terrorist force launched a month ago in Bamako. They now rely on a donors’ conference after the Security Council’s refusal to provide the force with a mandate.
Aboubacar dicko