Five U.N. peacekeepers killed when convoy attacked in Mali

 Five U.N. peacekeepers were killed and another six severely wounded in an attack on their convoy in northern Mali, a spokesperson for the country's U.N. peacekeeping mission said on Thursday.

Spokesperson Radhia Achouri said other details were not immediately available.

Two U.N. security officials said the attack occurred close to Goundam, a town southwest of the northern city of Timbuktu.

"It was five blue helmets between Goundam and Timbuktu," one official with the mission, known as MINUSMA, told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

A U.N. soldier said the convoy contained peacekeepers from the mission's contingent from Burkina Faso.

A French-led military campaign in early 2013 liberated northern Mali from al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels, who seized control of the area after the Tuareg uprising led to a military coup that plunged Mali into chaos.

Insecurity persists, however, with the violence often blamed on the remnants of Islamist groups.