AFP
Bamako
A Bangladeshi peacekeeper was shot dead and another wounded, the United Nations said yesterday, in the second attack in days in Mali’s capital on what is considered the world’s most dangerous UN
mission.
A statement from MINUSMA, the UN’s peacekeeping force in Mali, said “an incident” involving one of its vehicles took place in the area of Bamako airport.
“One peacekeeper was wounded, another succumbed to his injuries,” the statement said, adding that an investigation would determine the “exact circumstances of the incident”.
A Malian security source said overnight on condition of anonymity that the soldiers were killed by “unidentified armed men”.
But the source later clarified: “We have launched an investigation to find out what exactly happened since, on the face of it, there are no bullet holes, just traces of blood, in the vehicle”.
Bangladesh is the largest contributor to the 10,000-strong mission, with more than 1,700 troops and police on the ground.
One of the peacekeepers, both ranked as privates, died on the scene and the other was rushed immediately to hospital with bullet wounds after the ambush on their SUV, the Bangladesh army said.
With 35 peacekeepers killed in combat since MINUSMA’s inception in 2013, the UN has described northern Mali as the deadliest place on Earth for its personnel.
The force is regularly attacked by militants in the north, but had not been a direct target in Bamako before an assailant opened fire on a MINUSMA residence in the city’s Faso Kanu neighbourhood on Wednesday last week.
The unidentified gunman shot and wounded a civilian guard and hurled two grenades which failed to explode in the early hours of the morning, but no troops
were hurt.
