TheCable

Some Nigerian policemen on peacekeeping mission in Mali escaped death when unknown assailants attacked a UN police base in the Malian city of Timbuktu on Friday.

Tieman Hubert Coulibaly, Malian defence minister, said an army commander was killed as well as three of the attackers.

According to Olivier Salgado, spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA),the attackers drove up to the entrance of the UN base in the former Hotel Palmeraie around 6:30am and then detonated their vehicle.

Salgado said normalcy has since been restored, following the intervention of Malian troops with the support of UN forces.

“It’s over now. They are now inspecting the site and looking for explosive devices,” he said.

Militants briefly held Timbuktu, an ancient trade and cultural hub, in 2012 and other northern towns until French forces drove them out a year later.

But the militants have stepped up attacks in Mali in recent months as part of a growing regional insurgency.

During the invasion, Timbuktu’s famous mausoleums were destroyed by jihadists and restoration work was only officially completed at the UNESCO site this week.

However, residents have in recent weeks voiced concern that militants from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb known to operate in remote areas near Timbuktu are infiltrating the city.

In a sign of the dangers, a Swiss missionary living in the city was kidnapped last month.

“This city is infested with terrorist collaborators,” a street vendor who declined to be named told a visiting Reuters reporter in late January.

Malian forces launched ‘Operation Martine’ last month to secure the area around Timbuktu, including two forests thought to be used as militant hideouts.