Mali landmine kills UN peacekeeper, wounds four others

BAMAKO: A landmine explosion hit a vehicle carrying UN peacekeepers from Chad on patrol in northeastern Mali on Sunday, killing one and seriously wounding four others, the UN mission in Mali said.

The incident near Aguelhok town followed an apparently similar explosion in the same area on Sept. 2 in which four peacekeepers were killed and 15 wounded.

"These attacks on the United Nations constitute war crimes whose authors will be brought to justice. The United Nations will not let itself be intimidated as it defends civilians and the territorial integrity of Mali," said Albert Koenders, head of the UN force, which is known by its acronym, MINUSMA.

Peacekeepers continue to be targeted in sporadic attacks despite a successful intervention led by France last year that drove back Islamists who had taken advantage of a separatist uprising to seize Mali's desert north.