Oopsie!

BAMAKO (Reuters) – A suspected Islamist suicide bomber blew himself up but caused no other casualties in an attack in the northern Malian city of Kidal, the bastion of Tuareg separatist MNLA rebels, witnesses said on Tuesday.

But Islamist attacks, usually targeting Malian soldiers and African forces deployed to the north, persist. Seven people were killed in a suicide bombing in Kidal in February, and three soldiers from Chad died in another attack there in April.

“It was exactly 10.20 a.m. (1020 GMT) when we heard the explosion,” Moussa Ag Ibidas, a local aid worker, told Reuters.

“When we arrived, there was just human debris left. We couldn’t even identify the body. His bomb must have been poorly programmed, or he made a false move,” he said.

Witnesses said the explosion occurred near the Kidal home of an MNLA officer and not far from the former residence of Iyad Ag Ghaly, the leader of Islamist group Ansar Dine. But it was unclear what the bomber had intended to target.