UN Condemns Terrorist Attack in Mali

The United Nations Security Council has strongly condemned an attack in Bamako that killed five people on Saturday.

The machine-gun and grenade attack in Mali's capital left a French citizen, a Belgian security officer and three Malians dead and nine others wounded, international newswires quoted witnesses as saying.

Both UN Secretary General Ban Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council called on Mali's government to swiftly investigate the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice, the Security Council.

Demining personnel of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and the European Union were among the dead.

A man presenting himself as a spokesman for Sahara-based militant Islamist group Al-Mourabitoun, has claimed responsibility for the attack in an audio recording posted online on social media, according to Mauritanian news website Al-Akhbar.

It was impossible to immediately verify the authenticity of the recording but the website is frequently used by Islamists operating in the Sahara and Sahel region to release statements.

Acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed, the Security Council said in a statement.