<p>Six Malian soldiers were killed on Friday in a raid in the centre of the war-torn Sahel state, in a violent day which also saw 15 United Nations peacekeepers wounded in a car-bomb attack further north.</p>.<p>The UN said on Twitter that an evacuation was under way after a car bomb struck a temporary base near Tarkint, in the lawless north of Mali.</p>.<p>German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said 12 of the peacekeepers were German and that three were seriously injured.</p>.<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/child-soldiers-carried-out-burkina-faso-massacre-says-un-1001081.html" target="_blank">Child soldiers carried out Burkina Faso massacre, says UN </a></strong></p>.<p>Two of the three were in a stable condition, she said in a statement, while one has undergone surgery. All of the wounded have been evacuated by helicopter, Kramp-Karrenbauer added.</p>.<p>One Belgian soldier was also injured in the attack, according to a Belgian defence ministry statement.</p>.<p>About 13,000 troops from several nations are deployed in the UN's MINUSMA peacekeeping mission across the vast semi-arid country.</p>.<p>Mali is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency that erupted in 2012 and which has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives.</p>.<p>Despite the presence of thousands of French and UN troops, the conflict has engulfed the centre of the country and spread to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.</p>.<p>A security official, who declined to be identified, told <em>AFP</em> that the MINUSMA forward operating base attacked on Friday was only set up the previous day, after a land mine damaged a UN vehicle in the area.</p>.<p>The peacekeepers set up the base in order to remove the damaged vehicle, the security official said.</p>.<p>Separately on Friday, militants also attacked a Malian military outpost in the village of Boni in the centre of the country, killing six soldiers and injuring another.</p>.<p>Mali's army stated on Twitter that the troops had "vigorously responded" to "simultaneous attacks" launched in Boni in the afternoon.</p>.<p>Ten Malian soldiers had been killed in a similar ambush in Boni in February.</p>.<p>Central Mali -- which is the epicentre of the conflict in the Sahel -- also saw six French soldiers and four civilians wounded on Monday when a car bomb detonated near a French armoured car.</p>.<p>Former colonial power France, which intervened in Mali in 2013 to beat back the jihadists, currently has 5,100 soldiers deployed across the Sahel region.</p>.<p>But French President Emmanuel Macron announced earlier this month that he would wind down the Barkhane force.</p>.<p>France plans to refocus its energies on strengthening an international task force of special forces in Mali, known as Takuba.</p>.<p>Several hundred people gathered in Mali's capital Bamako on Friday to demand the departure of French forces from the country, an AFP journalist reported.</p>
<p>Six Malian soldiers were killed on Friday in a raid in the centre of the war-torn Sahel state, in a violent day which also saw 15 United Nations peacekeepers wounded in a car-bomb attack further north.</p>.<p>The UN said on Twitter that an evacuation was under way after a car bomb struck a temporary base near Tarkint, in the lawless north of Mali.</p>.<p>German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said 12 of the peacekeepers were German and that three were seriously injured.</p>.<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/child-soldiers-carried-out-burkina-faso-massacre-says-un-1001081.html" target="_blank">Child soldiers carried out Burkina Faso massacre, says UN </a></strong></p>.<p>Two of the three were in a stable condition, she said in a statement, while one has undergone surgery. All of the wounded have been evacuated by helicopter, Kramp-Karrenbauer added.</p>.<p>One Belgian soldier was also injured in the attack, according to a Belgian defence ministry statement.</p>.<p>About 13,000 troops from several nations are deployed in the UN's MINUSMA peacekeeping mission across the vast semi-arid country.</p>.<p>Mali is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency that erupted in 2012 and which has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives.</p>.<p>Despite the presence of thousands of French and UN troops, the conflict has engulfed the centre of the country and spread to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.</p>.<p>A security official, who declined to be identified, told <em>AFP</em> that the MINUSMA forward operating base attacked on Friday was only set up the previous day, after a land mine damaged a UN vehicle in the area.</p>.<p>The peacekeepers set up the base in order to remove the damaged vehicle, the security official said.</p>.<p>Separately on Friday, militants also attacked a Malian military outpost in the village of Boni in the centre of the country, killing six soldiers and injuring another.</p>.<p>Mali's army stated on Twitter that the troops had "vigorously responded" to "simultaneous attacks" launched in Boni in the afternoon.</p>.<p>Ten Malian soldiers had been killed in a similar ambush in Boni in February.</p>.<p>Central Mali -- which is the epicentre of the conflict in the Sahel -- also saw six French soldiers and four civilians wounded on Monday when a car bomb detonated near a French armoured car.</p>.<p>Former colonial power France, which intervened in Mali in 2013 to beat back the jihadists, currently has 5,100 soldiers deployed across the Sahel region.</p>.<p>But French President Emmanuel Macron announced earlier this month that he would wind down the Barkhane force.</p>.<p>France plans to refocus its energies on strengthening an international task force of special forces in Mali, known as Takuba.</p>.<p>Several hundred people gathered in Mali's capital Bamako on Friday to demand the departure of French forces from the country, an AFP journalist reported.</p>