This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Dakar, Senegal • Mortars lit up the dawn sky when they were fired on a United Nations base in the northern Mali city of Kidal early Saturday, killing at least three people.
The attack came eight days after Islamic extremists attacked a luxury hotel farther south in the capital of Bamako in which 20 people were killed.
Two U.N. peacekeepers and a contractor were killed in the assault Saturday in Kidal that also injured 20 people, leaving four in serious condition, said Olivier Salgado, spokesman for the U.N. mission in Mali.
Guinea's Ministry of Defense said two of its soldiers were killed.
A Kidal resident said about six shells were fired by attackers at dawn.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Northern Mali has been unstable since it fell to Tuareg separatists, then to Islamic extremists after a military coup in 2012. Separatists, militia groups and the government signed a peace deal in June.
In 2013, the French pushed Islamic militants out of Mali's northern cities, but jihadists continue to carry out attacks, often targeting U.N. peacekeepers. Extremists extended their reach farther south this year, including an assault on a Bamako restaurant and bar popular with foreigners in March that killed five people and another on a hotel in central Sevare town in August that killed 13. Islamic extremist group Al-Mourabitoun claimed responsibility for both attacks.