UNITED NATIONS — Attackers killed one UN peacekeeper and seriously injured eight others Friday, June 9, 2023, in Mali’s northern Timbuktu region, an area where extremists continue to operate, the United Nations (UN) said.
The peacekeepers, all from Burkina Faso, were part of a security patrol that was targeted first by an improvised explosive device and then by direct small arms fire seven kilometers from their base in the town of Ber, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
The UN Security Council, Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, El-Ghassim Wane, strongly condemned the attack.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Mali’s transitional authorities to identify the perpetrators of the attack and bring them to justice swiftly, noting that “attacks targeting UN peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law,” Dujarric said.
The Security Council also called for a swift investigation and accountability, and underlined that attacking peacekeepers may not only be a war crime but that involvement in planning, directing, sponsoring or conducting such an attack can lead to sanctions.
Mali has been ruled by a military junta since a 2020 coup against an elected president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. It has faced destabilizing attacks by armed extremist groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group since 2013. / AP