According to AP News, 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 (four miles) 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.
Dujarric said that the peacekeeper killed on Friday was the ninth to die in Mali this year.
AMK/PR
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