Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists claim UN suicide attack in Mali

A jihadist group led by Al-Qaeda-linked Mokhtar Belmokhtar has claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide attack on the United Nations in Mali, in a recording released Friday by Mauritanian news agency Alakhbar.

Two civilians were killed and nine peacekeepers from Niger wounded when a militant set off explosives as he attempted to drive into a camp used by the UN's MINUSMA peacekeeping mission in Ansongo, in the northern region of Gao, on Wednesday.

Belmokhtar's group, Al-Murabitoun, says in a barely-audible Arabic-language audio message that it targeted Niger nationals because of their participation of President Mahamadou Issoufou in the Paris demonstration against the attack on satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo in January.