– Two police officers from the UN mission killed in an attack
The two agents of Minusma, the United Nations mission in Mali, were victims of an attack during a patrol Friday in Timbuktu.
Two police officers from the United Nations mission in Mali (Minusma), including a woman, were killed on Friday in an attack on their patrol in Timbuktu (north), the mission announced on Twitter.
“Deeply shocked by the murder this followingnoon, in Timbuktu, by an unidentified armed individual, of two of our police officers, including a woman, while they were on patrol,” El-Ghassim Wane said on Twitter. head of Minusma. Four other peacekeepers were injured, one seriously, according to the mission and the head of Minusma.
In addition, “the attackers in their flight crossed a patrol of the Malian armed forces (Fama). After the exchange of fire, an assailant was killed. On the Fama side, there is one dead and one slightly injured who has left the hospital,” Bakoun Kanté, governor of Timbuktu, told AFP, who assures that the situation is now under control.
A ceremony for the Festival of Living Together was organized Friday in Timbuktu, at the monument of Peace, chaired by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mossa Ag Attaher. “We did a brief opening ceremony and the officials, including the sports minister, retired,” Kanté said. The Minusma sent regarding 30 minutes following the attack “a land rapid reaction force to the scene”, an official of the UN mission in Timbuktu told AFP.
Condemnations of the UN Security Council
The members of the UN Security Council “condemned in the strongest terms” this attack and called on the Malian authorities to carry out a “prompt investigation”, according to a joint press release released on Friday.
Mali has been plagued by jihadist attacks and violence of all kinds since 2012. Minusma is, along with Malian forces, one of the main targets of jihadists who target foreign presence and state symbols. Minusma, with around 12,000 soldiers deployed in Mali, is the UN mission that has suffered the most losses in the world in recent years. More than 180 of its members died in hostile acts.
AFP
You found an error?Please let us know.