Suicide blast kills more than 40 in northern Mali military camp

GAO, Mali, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Militants killed at least 42 people and wounded more than 100 others when they detonated an explosives-laden vehicle inside a military camp in Mali's northern city of Gao on Wednesday, the deadliest suicide bomb attack in the country's history. I’ve just left the hospital where there were bodies ripped to pieces and bodies piled up.”

The army put the provisional toll at 25 but a source in the U.N. MINUSMA peacekeeping force said at least 33 were killed. State media put the death toll at 47, including five suicide bombers, and army spokesman Diarran Kone said that 115 people were also wounded. For a graphic of where the attack took place: http://tmsnrt.rs/2jnRR7P

The camp housed government soldiers and members of rival armed groups who were due soon to begin conducting joint patrols under a U.N.-brokered peace deal aimed at easing local tensions so the government could focus on fighting Islamist militants. The attack underscores the enormous challenges that remain in northern Mali four years after the French military led an intervention to drive jihadis from power in the major towns across the north.
A suicide bomber detonates a vehicle full of explosives at a military camp in Gao, Mali, killing at least 76 people and wounding scores more in Mali's deadliest terrorist attack in history.