Story highlights Al Mourabitoun militant group claimed the bombing

Group is linked to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

(CNN) A group with links to Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing that tore through a military camp in West Africa's Mali, killing 47 people.

The attack was launched Wednesday in the city of Gao at the camp shared by government forces and armed groups, who had signed a peace deal in 2012 and were to carry out joint patrols.

The Al Mourabitoun militant group claimed it was behind the attack in a statement posted on Facebook and obtained by Mauritanian news agency Al-Akhbar.

The group is the Mali branch of Al Qaeda's North African affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

"We will not allow the establishment of military posts and headquarters or the convening of patrols and convoys belonging to the French occupiers to wage war against the mujahideen," the statement read.

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