UN Security Council slams deadly attacks on blue helmets in Mali

The UN Security Council on Tuesday condemned "in the strongest terms" the targeted attack against an United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) camp in Kidal, Mali, earlier in the day, in which one Senegalese peacekeeper was killed.

"The members of the Security Council called on the government of Mali to swiftly investigate this attack and bring the perpetrators to justice and stressed that those responsible for the attack shall be held accountable," said a statement issued to the press here by the 15-nation UN body.

"The members of the Security Council underlined that attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law," the statement said.

The Senegalese UN peacekeeper was killed on Tuesday when a joint French-UN military camp in the northern Malian town of Kidal was hit by rocket fire, the MINUSMA and local media said.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack, but Islamist insurgents operating in Mali's north have stepped up attacks on foreign forces in recent weeks. Nine UN peacekeepers were killed in an ambush last Friday.

Olivier Salgado, a spokesman for the MINUSMA, said between six and eight rockets had been fired at the camp. Enditem