UNITED24 - Make a charitable donation in support of Ukraine!

Military

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
21 March 2006

SUDAN: Two UN peacekeepers wounded in Yambio

NAIROBI, 21 Mar 2006 (IRIN) - Two United Nations peacekeepers were wounded at the weekend in an attack by more than 100 armed men on a UN base in the Sudanese town of Yambio, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The attack, on Bangladeshi peacekeepers, was the second on the UN in Sudan in less than two weeks. It occurred when armed men tried to confine the blue helmets to their base in order to loot other compounds, the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reported on Monday.

The two men were wounded by ricocheting bullets. Initial investigations suggest that the attackers were seeking communications equipment, UNMIS said. Three of the gunmen were killed in the attack, which occurred after midnight on Saturday.

UNMIS, which is authorised to field up to 10,000 military personnel to support the implementation of last year's Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Sudanese government and southern rebels, currently has 6,300 uniformed personnel on the ground.

On 15 March, two people - a local guard and one of the attackers - died in an attack on the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) compound in Yei, South Sudan. Another guard was shot in the leg, and an expatriate staff member was shot in the abdomen during the attack, said UNHCR, adding that an investigation was underway.

[ENDS]

This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but May not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006



NEWSLETTER
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list