<p>BAMAKO, Mali — Four United Nations peacekeepers were killed in an attack by jihadists on their camp in Aguelhok in northern Mali, the U.N. mission in Mali said Friday. </p>
<p>The U.N. mission said that helicopters were dispatched to the scene to evacuate the wounded from the camp, which houses mostly Chadian peacekeepers. </p>
<p>The U.N. mission said that the attackers suffered heavy losses and had abandoned several of their dead at the site of the attack. </p>
<p>Mali has been trying to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012. </p>
<p>Islamic extremist rebels were forced from power in Mali’s northern cities with the help of a 2013 French-led military operation. However, the insurgents quickly regrouped in the desert and began launching frequent attacks on the Malian army and its allies fighting the insurgency. </p>
<p>The extremists have expanded their reach well into central Mali, where their presence has inflamed tensions between ethnic groups in the area.</p>
