The United Nations on Wednesday confirmed that four of its peacekeepers were killed in a bomb attack at the entrance to a UN camp in north Mali.
The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) said a truck loaded with bombs exploded Wednesday at the entrance to its camp in Aguelhoc, Mali, killing four UN peacekeepers and injuring 10 others, identified as six MINUSMA peacekeepers and four members of the Malian army.
Nationalities of the casualties were not released. The injured were evacuated to unspecified medical facilities.
The UN secretary-general's special representative to Mali, Albert Koenders, issued a statement condemning "in the strongest terms" the attack.
"I'm shocked peacekeepers are again targeted," he said. "This attack will not deter MINUSMA from it mission to restore peace and security in Mali."
The town of Aguelhoc is in the Kidal region of northern Mali.
Following a military takeover in 2012, Tuareg separatists and later some other groups with al-Qaida links took over northern Mali.
France, the former colonial power, then led an intervention disrupting the separatists.