GAO, Mali -- A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden vehicle penetrated a camp in Mali on Wednesday, killing at least 60 people and wounding 115 soldiers and former fighters who are trying to stabilize the region.
Alakhbar, a Mauritanian news agency that frequently receives communications from extremist groups, said a group linked to al-Qaida's North Africa branch, al-Mourabitoun, had claimed responsibility.
The morning blast hit the Joint Operational Mechanism base in the city of Gao, home to Malian soldiers and hundreds of former fighters who signed a peace agreement with the government.
Witnesses said the car breached the camp as hundreds of fighters were gathering for a meeting.
The office of Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita late Wednesday put the death toll at 60, with 115 wounded.
Dr. Sadou Maiga at Gao's hospital said all other hospital activities had ceased, with dozens of wounded victims arriving.
"Some have died from their wounds, and others are in a very grave state," he said. "At this point, it's not the toll of dead and injured that interests me; it's saving who I can."
The attack underscores the challenges that remain in Mali four years after the French military led an intervention to drive the jihadis from power in major towns across the north.
Former fighters who signed a 2015 peace deal include ethnic Tuareg secular rebels who once fought the Malian military. Now they are supposed to be forming joint patrols in the area, though the program has yet to begin.
"If the security situation continues to deteriorate, then soon there won't be any peace to keep in Mali," United Nations peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the Security Council on Wednesday.
He said attacks are becoming more sophisticated and that rivalries among armed groups continue to slow implementation of the peace deal.
Ladsous reminded the Security Council that it has the power to impose "targeted measures" against those who violate the cease-fire.
At the U.N., Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said the "criminal, cowardly, barbaric attack" will not deter the government from moving forward to promote peace.
The U.S. condemned the "cowardly attack," State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
French President Francois Hollande, who visited a French military base in Gao a few days ago, also condemned the attack and reiterated support for Mali's peace process.
Mali has become the world's deadliest U.N. peacekeeping mission.
Some 29 U.N. peacekeepers were killed last year in attacks blamed on jihadi armed groups, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday.
The report says extremists are extending their reach farther into central Mali, trying to implement their strict interpretation of Shariah law and pressuring families to give up their children as soldiers for the cause.
Malian Security Minister Salif Traore declined to respond to the report's specifics but said he is well aware of security challenges throughout the region.
Information for this article was contributed by Baba Ahmed, Krista Larson, Edith M. Lederer, Sylvie Corbet, Matthew Pennington and Robbie Corey-Boulet of The Associated Press.
A Section on 01/19/2017