Islamic extremist group attacks UN forces

(Baonghean.vn) -In the Gao region of Mali, an attack believed to be by an extremist Islamic terrorist group killed at least nine Nigerian soldiers.The incident took place onFriday morning October 3rd.

For more than a week now, most of the units of the United Nations Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) have been the target of bloody attacks by radical Islamic terrorist groups. The latest attack took place on Friday, October 3, near the Gao area between Menaka and Asongo. At least nine Nigerian Green Berets were killed in the attack.

MINUSMA Blue Berets on a peacekeeping mission in Timbuktu, Mali in July 2013 / Photo: Joe Penney.

According to MINUSMA, since the start of its mission in Mali in July 2013, this is considered the heaviest loss of life for UN peacekeepers in the country. The attackers were armed and on motorbikes. The attack took place before the Muslim festival of Aïd-el-Kébir. Last month, 10 Blue Helmets were killed in attacks carried out by terrorist groups in Mali.

Among the radical Islamist terrorist groups, the Movement for Unitarianism and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) is considered the most active in the Gao region of Mali. Before the French intervention in January 2013, the Gao region was considered a stronghold of MUJAO.

Several days ago, the head of the UN peacekeeping operations, Hervé Ladsous, publicly admitted that the terrorist groups that once dominated northern Mali were active again. They would never abandon this vast and arid region and were staging attacks against the UN forces deployed in Mali. Mr. Hervé Ladsous also said that the Malian army would not return to this area, currently only the UN forces are deployed there.

Meanwhile, UN forces are monitoring Islamist terrorist groups in northern Mali. However, the vast desert terrain makes it difficult to determine the location of the terrorists. According to French intelligence, terrorist groups are acquiring weapons and reorganizing before launching a series of attacks against northern Mali.

Chu Thanh– Liberation 3/10