A ‘blue helmet’ dies in an attack against a MINUSMA patrol in northern Mali

June 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –

At least one ‘blue helmet’ of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) has died this Friday in a “complex attack” against a patrol in the surroundings of the city of Ber (north), as confirmed the mission itself.

Thus, the mission has indicated in a message on its official account on the social network Twitter that the patrol has been the target of an attack with a homemade explosive device, after which the attackers have opened fire on it.

“Preliminary information is one ‘blue helmet’ dead and four seriously injured,” MINUSMA has stated, without for the moment claiming responsibility for the attack.

MINUSMA has deployed ‘blue helmets’ in the country since 2013, although relations have deteriorated as a result of the coups led by the leader of the military junta, Assimi Goita, in August 2020 and July 2021 and the postponements by the board when setting an electoral calendar for a democratic transition.

Mali and the rest of the Sahel countries have experienced an upsurge in violence, both jihadist at the hands of groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, and inter-communal in nature, which has led France and the G5 Sahel countries — Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger– to increase their operations.