UN Vehicle Convoy Hits Homemade Explosives, Three Senegalese Peacekeepers Killed in Mali

Illustration of UN troops from Senegal. (Wikimedia Commons/MONUSCO/Myriam Asmani)

JAKARTA - Three peacekeepers from Senegal were killed and five others seriously injured after their convoy rammed an improvised explosive device in central Mali, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country and the Senegalese army said on Tuesday.

Mali is struggling to contain a far-right rebellion rooted after a 2012 coup, which has since spread from the arid north of West Africa. Thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced across the Sahel region.

Citin Reuters, February 22, several groups have known links to al Qaeda and ISIS groups.

Tuesday's incident occurred near the village of Songobia, 29 km (18 miles) southwest of the town of Bandiagara in the Mopti region of Mali, UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA said in a statement.

The Senegalese army also issued a statement saying the victims were part of the Senegalese contingent on the UN mission.

"This is another tragic illustration of the complexity of our operational environment, the sacrifices made by the international community for peace in Mali," said MINUSMA Chief of Mission El-Ghassim Wane.

It is known that at least 168 peacekeepers have been killed in Mali since the mission began in 2013, making it the world's deadliest UN peacekeeping effort.