AlHijjah 9, 1435, Oct 3, 2014, SPA -- Nine U.N. peacekeepers in Mali were killed and others wounded in an ambush on their convoy Friday, the deadliest attack on the U.N. mission in the African country yet, a spokesman for the U.N. mission said. The peacekeepers, who were from Niger, came under attack from unidentified, heavily armed gunmen on motorcycles between the northeastern towns of Menaka and Ansongo, spokesman Olivier Salgado told Reuters. "I am horrified by this cowardly act of terrorism," Arnauld Akodjenou, the deputy chief of the U.N. mission (MINUSMA) said in a statement. "Once again, lives have been lost today in the name of peace in Mali." U.N. peacekeepers have deployed across Mali's north in an effort to secure the vast desert zone that was occupied by a mix of ethnic Tuareg separatists and al Qaida-linked extremists in 2012 until the insurgents were scattered by French military forces last year. The presence of international soldiers allowed Mali to hold elections last summer, but France since then has redeployed some of its forces elsewhere and there has been a spike in attacks by radicals in recent months.
