Two peacekeepers from the United Nations mission in Mali (Minusma), including a woman, were killed on Friday December 16 in an attack on their patrol in Timbuktu (north), announced the mission on Twitter. Four other UN police officers were injured, one of them seriously, according to a press release from Minusma.
“Deeply shocked by the murder this afternoon, in Timbuktu, by an unidentified armed individual, of two of our police officers, including a woman, while they were on patrol”said on Twitter El-Ghassim Wane, the head of Minusma.
Otherwise, “the assailants in their flight came across a patrol of the Malian armed forces (Fama). After the exchange of fire, an assailant was killed. Fama side, there is a dead and a slightly injured who left the hospital “told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Bakoun Kanté, governor of Timbuktu, 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 had a brief opening ceremony and the officials, including the sports minister, retired”said Mr. Kanté.
The Minusma sent about thirty minutes after the attack “a ground rapid reaction force on the scene”told AFP an official of the UN mission in Timbuktu.
UN calls for ‘prompt investigation’
Members of the UN Security Council have “condemned in the strongest terms” this attack and call on the Malian authorities to carry out a “rapid investigation”according to a joint statement issued on Friday.
Mali has been plagued by jihadist attacks and violence of all kinds since 2012. Minusma is, along with the Malian forces, one of the main targets of jihadists who target the foreign presence and the symbols of the State.
With approximately 12,000 soldiers deployed in Mali, it 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.