A UN peacekeeper was killed and three others had been wounded Wednesday in a “terrorist assault” on their convoy in Kidal, northern Mali, in line with the UN peacekeeping power.
A safety official advised AFP, on situation of anonymity, that the victims had been members of the Jordanian battalion on the mission.
The convoy, which was patrolling close to the city of Kidal in northern Mali, was hit by small arms hearth and RPGs in an assault that lasted practically an hour, MINUSMA spokesperson Olivier Salgado stated on Twitter.
“Sadly, one of many blue helmets succumbed to his accidents within the aftermath of the assault,” he wrote in French.
No particulars had been offered concerning the suspected attackers.
MINUSMA – the United Nations Multidimensional Built-in Stabilization Mission in Mali – was deployed in 2013 to assist assist the delicate Sahel state within the face of jihadist assaults.
With 13,000 members, the mission is likely one of the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping operations, in addition to one in every of its most harmful. It says 172 troopers had been killed in hostilities.
The most recent assault got here days after a report by the United Nations Multidimensional Built-in Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) earlier this week said that there had been a “large rise” in violence towards civilians in Mali.
The UN peacekeeping power MINUSMA stated that whereas jihadists stay the most important supply of violence towards civilians, there was a “large rise” in deaths and different abuses linked to the armed forces “supported by international navy components”.
05:56 Mali: ISIS within the Sahel builds a sanctuary on the border with Niger © France 24 The loss of life toll within the first quarter of 2022 by the hands of all events to the battle – jihadists, militias, self-defense teams and safety forces – has quadrupled within the final three months of 2021, rising from 128 to 543.
The report said {that a} complete of 248 civilian deaths had been attributed to the protection and safety forces.
And recorded 320 human rights violations throughout this era that authorities forces can blame – a tenfold improve from the final quarter of 2021, when 31 circumstances had been documented.
(France 24 with AFP)
