Two UN peacekeepers shot dead near Timbuktu in Mali

UN peacekeeping mission says four others were wounded in the attack carried out by an unidentified gunman on Friday.

“I condemn this heinous act and wish a speedy recovery to the four other injured peacekeepers,” Wane tweeted on Friday.

The UN’s Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) “strongly condemned” the deadly attack, Aljazeera reported.

“A United Nations police patrol was attacked on December 16 in Timbuktu [northern Mali]. Two of our police officers, including a woman, lost their lives, and four others were injured, one of them seriously,” MINUSMA said in a tweet, 

Since the presence of UN peacekeeping forces in Mali in 2013, 250 of them have been killed in attacks and explosions.

MINUSMA’s peacekeeping future is in doubt as violence rages in the center, north, and east of the African nation.

Mali saw two military coups within a year between 2020 and 2021. In 2012, the army overthrew Amadou Toumani Touré and a military committee led by Ahmed Sanogu announced the dissolution of his government. After several years of continuing political tensions in 2020, Mali's military ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, but international sanctions prevented the military from taking power.

There have also been growing tensions between the UN mission and Mali’s military rulers following the alleged arrival of Russia’s Wagner Group fighters to bolster the government’s forces.

SKH/PR