File photo of armed forces Mali.

Gunmen attacked and fired rockets at a U.N. peacekeeping base in Kidal in northern Mali on Saturday, causing an unspecified number of casualties, a spokesman for the U.N. force in Mali (MINUSMA) said.

“The attack happened at around 4 a.m. (0400 GMT). Four or five rockets landed inside the base. Quite a few people were wounded but it’s too early for a precise number,” MINUSMA spokesman Olivier Salgado told Reuters.

French troops and the U.N. force are struggling to stabilize the former French colony where militants attacked a hotel in the capital on Nov. 20 and killed 20 people.

Three militant groups – al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI), its splinter group al Mourabitoun and Massina Liberation Front (MLF) – claimed the attack on the Radisson Blu hotel. Security analysts say they could be collaborating.

Northern Mali was occupied by militant fighters, some with links to al Qaeda, for most of 2012. They were driven out by a French-led military operation, but violence has continued.

Other West African governments are also battling militants. Boko Haram, the leading such group in the region, has this year extended its attacks from Nigeria to neighboring states of Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

Related articles across the web

• EXCLUSIVE-In Niger, U.S. soldiers quietly help build wall against Boko Haram
• Bomb blasts rock restive Nigerian city of Maiduguri: army
• The fight against Boko Haram requires much than deadline strategy, By Ahmad Salkida
• Deaths as Boko Haram hits Nigeria's Maiduguri
• Bono: Modern Marshall plan needed to make Sustainable Development Goals a reality
• In Niger, U.S. soldiers quietly help build wall against Boko Haram
• U.S. Soldiers Quietly Help Build Wall Against Boko Haram
• Cameroonian troops kill 17 Boko Haram militants
• One week after coup, Burkina Faso's president says he's back in power
• Three blasts hit northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri - military - Reuters