WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th January, 2019) Two members of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali were killed in when their vehicle hit a mine early Friday morning, according to a local UN statement that was later confirmed by a spokesman in New York.
"This morning at around 0600, a vehicle in a MINUSMA [United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali] logistics convoy hit a mine near Douentza," the United Nations told local media.
In New York, United Nations spokesman Farhan Haq confirmed local reports that two people had been killed and several more were being treated for injuries. The Journal du Cameroun reported that the dead peacekeepers were from Sri Lanka.
MINUSMA has been deployed since 2013 in Mali to help counter at least five Islamist terror groups, including al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (both banned in Russia) that are either seeking independence or attempting to impose Islamic law in the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim nation.
Friday's incident followed a terrorist attack on Sunday that killed at least ten Chadian peacekeepers and injured at least 24 others, the United Nations said earlier.
