TIMBUKTU, Mali
Six UN peacekeeping soldiers were killed Thursday in Mali's restive northern desert, the United Nations Mali mission said.
Sources said the soldiers were killed in an ambush on a highway between Goundam and Mali's northern city of Timbuktu.
An armed group set fire to two vehicles belonging to the UN peacekeeping mission, the sources added.
Last week, three other peacekeeping soldiers were injured in a similar attack.
The Malian government and a Tuareg insurgent group, considered the country’s largest rebel organization, signed a peace deal on June 20 in which the latter promised to withdraw from the town of Menaka.
Tuareg armed groups have been fighting for greater autonomy in northern Mali since 2012, taking over much of the region in April of the same year.
