A mortar attack on a U.N. base in northern Mali early Saturday killed three people -- two peacekeepers and a contractor -- and injured 20 others, a spokesman for the nation's U.N. mission said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, spokesman Olivier Salgado said from the capital of Bamako.
An unidentified group launched several mortars on the camp at 4 a.m. (10 p.m. ET Friday), Salgado said.
Mongi Hamdi, the head of the U.N. mission, condemned the attacks and offered condolences to the families of those killed.
"I want to reiterate that these attacks will not impede the determination of the United Nations to support the Malian people and the peace process, including through assisting the implementation of the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali," Hamdi said.
Mali was in the news recently when Al Qaeda in West Africa staged an attack on a hotel several weeks ago. In the last two years, Islamist insurgents have stepped up their attacks in the region, buoyed in large part by the free flow of weapons from lawless Libya, where President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thought it was a great idea to depose Ghaddafi.
Another Day, Another Islamist Attack in this Country
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