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UN Condems Mali Peacekeeper Killings


FILE - A United Nations peacekeeper stands guard at the entrance to a polling station covered in separatist flags and graffiti supporting the creation of the independent state of Azawad, in Kidal, Mali, July 28, 2013.
FILE - A United Nations peacekeeper stands guard at the entrance to a polling station covered in separatist flags and graffiti supporting the creation of the independent state of Azawad, in Kidal, Mali, July 28, 2013.
The United Nations Security Council has condemned a suicide car bombing that killed two U.N. peacekeepers and wounded several others in Mali.
The Senegalese soldiers, part of the U.N. peacekeeping force known as MINUSMA, were killed Saturday when the bomber detonated his car in front of a bank they were guarding in the northern city of Kidal.
Malian security forces were also among the wounded. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Several militant groups, some including ethnic Tuaregs, used the confusion of a military coup in the capital, Bamako, in March of 2012 to assert control in the country's north, where they attempted to establish an Islamist state.
The central government reasserted its control in northern Mali after a French-led military operation in January.
The militants are no longer able to carry out major military actions, but residual groups stage sporadic small-scale attacks in the north.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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