Attack in northern Mali kills 33, injures dozens more

At least 33 people are killed and several dozen injured after an explosives-laden vehicle targets a camp housing armed groups in northern Mali, a local official says.

The blast hit the Joint Operational Mechanism base in the city of Gao. The base houses hundreds of fighters including members of armed groups that signed Mali’s 2015 peace agreement. The camp also houses Malian soldiers.

The local official calls the death toll provisional.

“I am with the injured now,” Dr. Sadou Maiga at Gao’s hospital says. “We have stopped all hospital activities to handle the many injured who are arriving. Some have died from their wounds, and others are in a very grave state. At this point, it’s not the toll of dead and injured that interests me, it’s saving who I can.”

Witnesses say the car bearing explosives breached the camp at around 9 a.m., just as hundreds of fighters were gathering for a meeting.

— AP