A branch of Al Qaeda in northwestern Africa claimed responsibility for an attack on a United Nations base in Mali that killed 10 Chadian peacekeepers on Sunday, saying it was in response to Chad’s resumption of diplomatic relations with Israel.

In a statement, the United Nations mission in Mali said that a peacekeeping base had come under attack in the northeastern village of Aguelhok. The village is in one of the most troubled regions of the country, which has repeatedly been in the cross hairs of a jihadist insurgency.

“Early this morning,” the statement said, “the blue helmets of the Minusma” — the peacekeeping mission in Mali — “fought off a complex attack launched by assailants who arrived aboard a convoy of numerous vehicles.”

Besides the 10 peacekeepers killed, 25 were wounded.

The Qaeda branch, the Group to Support Islam and Muslims, released its statement late Sunday. The group, which has gone through a series of name changes since pledging allegiance to Al Qaeda in 2006, framed the killings as a response to a decision by President Idriss Deby of Chad to normalize relations with Israel.