Dakar - Gunmen attacked a UN peacekeeping base in Mali's northern city of Timbuktu on Monday,
the peacekeeping mission said, adding that it had deployed a
rapid response force with helicopters to the scene.
"An attack has been launched against one of our camps in
Timbuktu (by) unknown men with machine guns," Radhia Achouri, a
spokeswoman for the UN peacekeeping mission, said by
telephone. Sporadic gunfire was continuing, she said.