BAMAKO: Nine United Nations peacekeepers in Mali were killed when heavily armed gunmen on motorbikes ambushed their convoy on Friday, the deadliest attack yet on UN troops in the country.

The attack on the peacekeepers from Niger took place in the region of Gao and highlighted a sharp increase in strikes on foreign troops based in Mali to prevent the return of Al Qaeda-linked Islamists who seized the desert north in 2012.

Also read: Four UN troops killed in Mali blast

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was “shocked and outraged” by the attack, which constituted a serious violation of international law, and he called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice, UN spokes­man Stephane Dujarric said.

“They were targeting a convoy that included a fuel truck, knowing full well that an attack on a fuel truck would cause an even greater number of casualties, which adds to the horrendous nature of the crime,” he said.

Mr Dujarric said that 30 peacekeepers had been killed in Mali since the UN mission began in July last year.

Thirty peacekeepers killed in the country since start of the mission

He said Friday’s attack took place between the north-eastern towns of Menaka and Ansongo.

The UN mission said aircraft had been dispatched to secure the zone.

A security source said the peacekeepers were attacked in a dip in the road as it crossed a dry riverbed.

Peacekeepers have deployed across Mali’s north in an effort to secure the country after the separatists and Islamists took advantage of the power vacuum created by a coup in the capital in 2012 to seize the northern regions.

The Islamists were scattered by French forces early last year, elections have been held, and rebels who distanced themselves from extremist groups have begun talks with the Bamako government.

But the peace process is moving slowly, and Malian government troops abandoned most positions in the north earlier this year after clashes with rebels.

Since then, Mali has called on the UN mission to deploy more of its mandated force of 12,000 men in the north, a zone that is awash with smugglers as well as various rebels.

Published in Dawn, October 4th , 2014