Mali soldiers on a round in the attack area. File photo

Twenty people were wounded on Thursday in northern Mali's restive Kidal region, including 18 UN peacekeepers, in a rocket attack on a military base for UN, French and Malian forces, a UN spokesman said.

Six of the peacekeepers from the MINUSMA mission were seriously wounded by the attack on the base in the town of Tessalit, spokesman Olivier Salgado told the media. He said it was unclear who was responsible.

Kidal has been under the control of Tuareg rebels since an uprising in 2012, and tensions regularly flare between armed groups and the government.

The MINUSMA mission has over 13,000 troops in Mali to contain violence caused by various armed groups in the north and centre of the country, including militants linked to al Qaeda and Daesh.

The French army operates a separate anti-insurgent mission across West Africa’s arid Sahel region, where jihadist and ethnic violence is worsening.

Reuters