France condemns attack on UN force in north Mali

France on Sunday condemned an attack against the UN stabilisation force in Mali earlier in which one "blue helmet" soldier and two other people were killed.
A Foreign Ministry statement said that Paris "fully supported" the UN force in Mali that has largely taken over security duties from French troops who intervened in that country in January 2013 to counter a surge by radical Islamic groups linked with Al-Qaeda.
The latest attack against the UN took place in Kidal in the north of the country where a UN deployment was hit by mortar and rocket fire. Reports said that about 30 shells were lobbed on to the UN forces.
France maintains about 1,000 troops in Mali for broader anti-terrorist operations as part of the "Barkhane" deployment which has put 3,000 French troops in Mali, Chad, Niger and Mauritania.
That force regularly attacks columns of radicals heading into the Sahel region from southern Libya to attack countries under the French military umbrella.