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

Nouakchott (AFP) - 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 it targeted Niger nationals because of the participation of President Mahamadou Issoufou in the Paris demonstration against the jihadist attack on satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo in January.

The group said the suicide bombing was also staged in revenge for Niger allowing American and French troops on its soil.

Mali's government said a civilian MINUSMA worker and a child died in the attack, adding that the suicide bomber was also killed and 21 people, including the peacekeepers, were wounded.

Alakhbar regularly publishes statements from Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists, which are never denied.