Soldiers and gendarmes on Saturday ended a siege in a northern Mali trading hub that killed at least 12 people, including five UN employees, while four other UN workers were rescued. A UN spokeswoman, who preferred to remain anonymous, told dpa the dead included five of the attackers that launched the siege and four foreigners. Five UN employees were among the dead, including a Malian driver, one Nepalese citizen, one South African and two Ukrainians, the UN mission said later in a statement. The UN workers rescued were two South Africans, a Ukrainian and a Russian citizen who managed to hide for the duration of the nearly 24-hour siege that began on Friday in Sevare, located about 600 kilometres north-east of the capital Bamako, the official said. The men were pilots and engineers contracted by the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, she said.
