Militants killed at least six United Nations soldiers on Thursday in northern Mali, in one the deadliest ever attacks on the world's most dangerous peacekeeping mission, claimed by al Qaeda's north African arm. MINUSMA, the UN's force in the volatile west African nation, said its patrol was ambushed around 9:00 am (0900 GMT), 45 kilometres (28 miles) south-west of the city of Timbuktu on the road to Goundam. "Preliminary reports indicate that six peacekeepers were killed and five others wounded. The evacuation of the wounded is in progress," it said in a statement.
The force said two of its vehicles had been destroyed, and that reinforcements had been sent to the area, backed from the air by helicopters.
A source within MINUSMA said the soldiers, from Burkina Faso, were victims of an "ambush" by heavily-armed fighters.
Mauritanian news agency Al-Akhbar, which regularly carries credible claims of responsibility by jihadist groups, said it had received a statement from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) admitting the attack and putting the death toll at seven.
Thursday's attack was the largest loss of life for MINUSMA since nine of its soldiers were killed in the Gao region in an October ambush later claimed by the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO).
The UN says 35 peacekeepers have been killed in combat since MINUSMA's inception in 2013, not including Thursday's attack, making northern Mali the deadliest theatre on earth for its personnel.
Three UN soldiers were wounded on May 28 when a convoy including the head of peacekeeping in Mali triggered landmines in the north, in an operation also claimed by AQIM.
MINUSMA's Danish commander Michael Lollesgaard and police commissioner Abdounasir Awale were on a field visit when a vehicle in their convoy hit a mine between the towns of Dire and Ber.
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