UN peacekeepers have departed a rebel stronghold in northern Mali early as violence increases

By BABA AHMED
Associated Press

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — United Nations peacekeepers have withdrawn from a rebel stronghold in northern Mali weeks earlier than planned because of growing insecurity. That leaves the town in the hands of ethnic Tuareg separatists. The U.N. mission says the peacekeepers left Tuesday and describes the conditions of departure “extremely difficult and trying.” It says two peacekeeper were wounded when the convoy came under attack south of Kidal. Mali’s military junta earlier this year ordered the U.N. mission of more than 15,000 people to leave the West African country, which has struggled to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012.