Attackers killed one U.N. peacekeeper and seriously injured eight others Friday in Mali's northern Timbuktu region, an area where extremists continue to operate, the United Nations said.

The peacekeepers were part of a security patrol that was targeted first by an improvised explosive device and then by direct fire in the town of Ber, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The United Nations joins the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, El-Ghassim Wane, in srongly condemning the attack, Dujarric said.