Sharjah 24 – AFP: A car bomb in northern Mali has wounded 15 UN peacekeepers, the United Nations and the German government said on Friday, in the latest attack in the war-torn Sahel state.

The UN said on Twitter that an evacuation was under way after a car bomb struck a temporary base near Tarkint, in the lawless north.

German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said 12 of the peacekeepers were German and that three were seriously injured.

Two of the three were in stable condition, she said in a statement, while one has undergone surgery. All of the wounded have been evacuated by helicopter, Kramp-Karrenbauer added.

The Belgian defence ministry also said in a statement that the attack had injured a Belgian soldier, who received medical attention at the site before being evacuated.

About 13,000 troops from several nations are deployed in the UN's MINUSMA peacekeeping mission across the vast semi-arid country. 

A security official, who declined to be identified, told AFP that the forward operating base attacked on Friday was only set up the previous day, after a land mine damaged a UN vehicle in the area. 

The peacekeepers set up the base in order to remove the damaged vehicle, the security official said.

On Monday, six French soldiers and four civilians were  wounded when a car bomb detonated near a French armoured car in central Mali.