Al-Qaida said peacekeepers killed because of Chad-Israel ties
DAKAR, Senegal — SITE Intelligence Group says Mali’s al-Qaida branch has claimed responsibility for an attack on a United Nations peacekeeping mission that killed at least 10 peacekeepers and wounded 25 others in northern Mali’s Kidal region.
The U.S.-based monitoring group says Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam Muslimeen, known as JNIM and formed in 2017, says it carried out the attack in response to Chad renewing diplomatic ties with Israel. It suggested this was the first of many “responses” to Chad’s relations with Israel.
The renewed ties were announced after a recent visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Chad.
Sunday’s attack targeted the base in Aguelhoc, which houses Chadian peacekeepers. Peacekeepers from Chad, a strong contributor to regional security efforts, have suffered repeated assaults in Mali.
