\n The French army said Thursday it had eliminated an \"armed terrorist group\" linked to Al-Qaeda in northern Mali, killing 15 jihadists, while three UN peacekeepers died after their vehicle struck a mine.\n<\/p>\n
\n Army spokesman Patrick Steiger said troops from France's regional Barkhane anti-terror operation carried out a joint strike against the group with French special forces about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Kidal.\n<\/p>\n
\n The operation, backed by fighter jets and helicopters, took place overnight Monday.\n<\/p>\n
\n It \"allowed us to take 15 members of this katiba out of action\", Steiger said, using a local word for a militant unit.\n<\/p>\n
\n The group was a branch of Ansar Dine, which has links to the regional Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) group, he added, saying weapons and ammunition including assault rifles and grenades were destroyed in the raid.\n<\/p>\n
\n France has had some 4,000 soldiers deployed in the Sahel region -- a vast stretch of territory on the edge of the Sahara Desert -- since 2014.\n<\/p>\n
\n The announcement in Paris came as the Mali-based branch of al-Qaeda, Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, claimed an attack in the north that killed two soldiers.\n<\/p>\n
\n US monitoring group SITE said the claims were made on the Telegram messenger channel of the group's so-called Al-Zallaqa Media Foundation.\n<\/p>\n
\n In further violence, three UN peacekeepers were killed and two more injured Thursday when their vehicle struck a \"mine or an improvised explosive device\" in northern Mali, the United Nations Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The blast occurred as their vehicle was escorting \"a logistical convoy\" north of Kidal, MINUSMA said, adding the toll could rise.\n<\/p>\n
\n - UN condemnation -\n<\/p>\n
\n Interim UN mission head Koen Davidse vigorously condemned \"such despicable acts whose sole aim is to destabilise the country and jeopardise the ongoing peace process in Mali.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n He added MINUSMA remained determined to work to bring peace to the country and warned attacks on peacekeepers could be construed as war crimes.\n<\/p>\n
\n This week has seen several attacks attributed to jihadists, including on gendarmerie posts in Dioro and Ouan in central Mali on Monday and a landmine blast on a Malian army vehicle in the Mopti region on Tuesday.\n<\/p>\n
\n On Wednesday, the Malian defence ministry said two soldiers were killed in a \"terrorist\" attack in Soumpi.\n<\/p>\n
\n Islamic extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of the desert north of Mali in early 2012 at the expense of Tuareg rebels, but were chased out of Sahara towns by an ongoing French-led military operation launched in January 2013.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mali's army, French soldiers and a MINUSMA are battling for control over large tracts of the country under attack in spite of a peace accord signed with Tuareg leaders in mid-2015 aimed at isolating the jihadists.\n<\/p>\n
\n Since 2015, jihadist attacks have spread, including latterly to neighbouring countries, particularly Burkina Faso and Niger.\n<\/p>\n
\n The creation of Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen was announced on March 2 as a fusion of Ansar Dine, the Al-Murabitoun of Mokhtar Belmokhtar and the \"Emirate of the Sahara,\" a branch of AQMI.\n<\/p>\n
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The French army said Thursday it had eliminated an \"armed terrorist group\" linked to Al-Qaeda in northern Mali, killing 15 jihadists, while three UN peacekeepers died after their vehicle struck a mine. Army spokesman Patrick Steiger said troops from France's regional Barkhane anti-terror operation carried out a joint strike against the group with French special […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-35047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n