By Tiemoko Diallo
BAMAKO (Reuters) – French forces said three of their bases in Kidal, Menaka and Gao in northern Mali were attacked within the space of a few hours on Monday morning, although no deaths or injuries were reported.
The camps were hit by “indirect fire”, said Thomas Romiguier, a spokesman for French forces who have more than 5,100 personnel spread across the region.
The only damage was to a United Nations base in Kidal, Romiguier said. The U.N. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The mayor of Menaka, Nanout Kotia, told Reuters he heard explosions coming from the direction of the military camp outside town but could not give any more details.
The attacks come after French forces killed Bah ag Moussa, a military leader of al Qaeda’s North Africa wing on Nov. 10.
The former Malian army colonel, also known as Bamoussa Diarra, was a right-hand man of Iyad Ag Ghali, the leader of Mali’s most prominent jihadi group, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which has repeatedly attacked soldiers and civilians in Mali and neighbouring Burkina Faso.
(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo, Paul Lorgerie, and Hereward Holland; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
