Seven UN peacekeepers killed in Sudan’s Darfur

Nyala, July 13, 2013 (SDN) — Seven UN peacekeepers have been killed and 17 injured in an attack in the troubled Darfur region of Sudan. A spokesman for Unamid, a joint African Union-United Nations mission, said the incident happened near the mission’s base at Manawashi, north of Nyala. UNAMID gave no details on who carried out the attack, or on the nationalities of the victims – but it happened in an area patrolled by Tanzanian troops. More than 16,000 Unamid troops are currently based in Darfur. The mission began in 2007, with a mandate to protected civilians. Spokesman Christopher Cycmanick told the AFP news agency the incident happened as the peacekeepers were about 25km (16 miles) west from a second Unamid base at Khar Abeche

They had been moving between the sites at the time, he said, without giving further details.

The UN estimates that more than 300,000 people have died in Darfur, mostly from disease, since rebels took up arms in 2003 against the Khartoum government.

Source: AFP