2 UN peacekeepers killed in northern Mali

The United Nations said Friday that two UN peacekeepers, including a woman, were killed and four others injured with one of them in serious condition, in a gun attack in northern Mali.

“Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a United Nations Police patrol” in Timbuktu town, the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali said in a statement, adding that “some material” was recovered from the attackers.

Head of the mission El-Ghassim Wane said he was “deeply shocked by this heinous act,” which he strongly condemned.

“Despite a difficult operational environment, the UN mission will spare no effort to carry out its mandate,” he said. By its resolution 2640 (2022), the UN Security Council extended the mandate of MINUSMA until June 30, 2023.

Since 2012, Mali has been engulfed in a deep multi-faceted crisis at security, political and economic levels. Independence insurgencies, jihadist incursions and intercommunal violence have left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands more displaced in the West African nation.