Two police officers from the United Nations mission in Mali (Minusma) were killed on Friday December 16 in an attack on their patrol in Timbuktu (north). “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.
Four other peacekeepers were injured, one seriously, according to the mission and the head of Minusma.
A death among the Malian armed forces
Otherwise, “the assailants in their flight crossed a patrol of the Malian armed forces (Fama). After the exchange of fire, an assailant was killed. On the Fama side, there is one dead and one slightly injured who left the hospital“, told AFP Bakoun Kanté, governor of Timbuktu, who assures that the situation is now under control.
Mali has been plagued by jihadist attacks and violence since 2012. Minusma is, along with Malian forces, one of the main targets of jihadists who target foreign presence and state symbols.
Minusma, with around 12,000 soldiers deployed in Mali, 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.
