Gunmen attack U.N. base in Mali's Timbuktu with machine guns

DAKAR - 14 August 2017: Gunmen attacked a U.N. 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 U.N. peacekeeping mission, said by telephone. Sporadic gunfire was continuing, she said.