MINUSMA forces defuse an explosive device near a base in northern Mali

July 16 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) has denounced this Sunday an attack with an explosive device whose forces have been able to deactivate after identifying it a few kilometers from a base in the municipality of Tessalit, in the north of the country.

At around 10:00 this Sunday, a MINUSMA convoy identified this bomb before it exploded in its path, some eight kilometers from its base in Tessalit.

The peacekeepers stopped the logistics convoy and proceeded to deactivate the explosive, MINUSMA has made known on its Twitter account.

The UN mission recalls that this same convoy already received the impact of a mine on Saturday about 21 kilometers from the base, when it was traveling between Aguelhok and Tessalit. Although no one was injured, one of the vehicles was damaged.

MINUSMA denounces what is the 19th attack with explosives that its forces have received since January and that have resulted in a total of five deaths and 31 injuries among its troops.

The contingent is already facing its final withdrawal at the end of the year after the recent escalation of the political struggle with the Malian government. Relations were particularly affected by a UN report on the massacre of more than 500 people in March 2022 in the city of Moura (center), which pointed to the Army as the main culprit.

The Government “firmly” rejected the report and assured that the images obtained by satellite by the investigators constitute a crime of “espionage.”

The leader of the Malian military junta, Assimi Goita, had already focused on MINUSMA in recent months, demanding greater collaboration with the Army when carrying out its operations against the terrorist threat, especially by the branches of Al Qaeda and Islamic State in the region.