At least 37 killed in car bomb explosion in northern Mali

Jan. 18 (UPI) -- At least 37 people were killed Wednesday in a car bomb attack on a military base in northern Mali.

The bomb detonated after a vehicle full of explosives was driven into a barracks area housing about 600 Malian soldiers and affiliated armed groups in the city of Gao, about 200 miles southeast of Timbuktu.

The forces stationed at the base are backed by the United Nations and charged with stopping violence in the area. Militant Islamists took over large parts of northern Mali -- part of the Sahel, the Arab region just south of the Sahara Desert -- in 2012. French forces intervened in 2013 to drive them out, but attacks and kidnappings still occur.

Shops and schools near the Gao base closed because of the massive amount of dust caused by Wednesday's explosion, and Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita declared three days of national mourning.

No group has announced responsibility for the bombing.