U.N. Hit by Another Deadly Attack in Mali, Vows to Boost Defenses

A Senegalese peacekeeper was killed Tuesday as a U.N. camp in northern Mali came under rocket fire in an attack blamed on a jihadist leader driven from the country by French troops.

The strike came just as the U.N. vowed to bolster defenses for its troops in Mali after suffering its deadliest attack on Friday -- an ambush by al-Qaida-linked militants that claimed nine peacekeepers' lives.

"This is no longer in the context of maintaining peace," said Herve Ladsous, the U.N.'s head of peacekeeping operations, as he announced deployments of drones and armored vehicles.

"We are required to take a series of measures ... to toughen up our bases, and boost our protection," he said at a press conference after a attending the nine peacekeepers' funeral in Mali's capital Bamako.

As he spoke, the U.N. mission came under a fresh attack, this time blamed on Iyad Ag Ghaly, who led a Tuareg rebellion in the Sahara before setting up the armed group Ansar Dine.

The jihadist had disappeared in January 2013 soon after France intervened to drive Islamist insurgents back from Bamako but resurfaced last month to issue a video message signalling his return to combat.

He said his group was "ready to unite with our brothers on the ground to face up to the crusaders and infidels who have united to fight Islam in our land".

"The Malian Islamist Iyad Ag Ghaly has carried out his threat by attacking the camp of the U.N. mission in Kidal," a source from the U.N.'s MINUSMA force in Mali told Agence France Presse.

The source said at least five rockets were fired and added that the "provisional death toll" was one peacekeeper, giving his nationality as Senegalese.

A resident of Kidal contacted by AFP by telephone confirmed the information.

"The camp was attacked, we heard loud noises. It's rockets. It's dark here now and we don't know what is happening," he said.

In New York, the U.N. Security Council condemned the attack and called on Bamako to launch an investigation and "bring the perpetrators to justice".

- 'Shameful acts' -

In a 23-minute video in Arabic put online in August, Ghaly accused the French and their Malian army allies of a litany of atrocities against the people of northern Mali that "brings shivers to the spine".

Flanked by a black jihadist flag and a Kalashnikov rifle, his long monologue was interspersed with images of French interests in Africa. 

Islamist groups Ansar Dine, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and MUJAO occupied the desert north -- a vast chunk of land which makes up nearly two thirds of Mali -- for ten months before they were ousted by a French-led military intervention in January 2013.

Though order has largely been restored across the territory, the Islamists continue to carry out raids and attacks and French troops are still on patrol.

Friday's ambush, which targeted U.N. troops from Niger, brought to 30 the number of deaths in the U.N. mission since its deployment in July last year.

Ladsous vowed to hunt down the killers of the nine Nigerien soldiers.

"So that those responsible are fully aware, they will be punished, they will be prosecuted, they will pay for these shameful acts," Ladsous said at the soldiers' funeral.

Coffins of the soldiers were draped with a U.N. flag at the service at the headquarters of MINUSMA, and they were posthumously decorated.

"I want to tell you how we experienced, even in New York, the intensity of this tragedy, a tragedy that comes after many others," said Ladsous.

The Malian government is in negotiations with six armed groups to bring peace to northern Mali.

Ladsous urged all parties to honor a ceasefire agreed as part of the talks.