Loud explosions again rock northern Mali's Timbuktu

Several loud explosions rocked the northern Mali city of Timbuktu on Sunday near military bases where one U.N peacekeeper was killed and several French troops were wounded last weekend by Islamist militants, a resident and a U.N. source said.

The April 14 car bomb and rocket attacks on the heavily fortified bases by militants disguised as U.N. peacekeepers marked a particularly daring assault amid an upsurge in jihadist violence in Mali and neighbouring countries.