Suspected Islamist militants attacked a U.N. peacekeepers’ base in the northern Mali town of Kidal on Friday, killing several persons and wounding  others, a spokesman for the separatist Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) told Reuters.

“There is gunfire and mortar fire against the MINUSMA (U.N. peacemaking mission) camp. It is an attack by the Islamists, apparently involving a suicide car bomb.
There are some dead and wounded but I do not know the exact number,” said CMA spokesman Radouane Ag Mohamed Aly.

Later  Mahamat Saleh, the Mali representative of the U.N. secretary-general said three  peacekeepers were killed and 30 others were wounded in the attcak.

Last week, the Islamists also attacked another UN base in Timbuktu, occupied by Nigerian police peacekeepers. But the casualties were minimal as the Nigerians had left the base, a former hotel, before the assailants arrived.

*Updated at 14.44 GMT