14 Killed After Bus Hits Landmine In Mali: UN Outraged
Credit: https://twitter.com/UN_MINUSMA / Evacuation des blessés à Mopti, Mali. Sep. 4, 2019. La Force et la Police de la MINUSMA st également restées sur le site de l’incident tragique qui a coûté la vie à plusieurs civils innocents pour en assurer la sécurisation alors que d’autres blessés plus légers étaient pris en charge.
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
UNITED NATIONS – NEW YORK – At least 14 people were killed Wednesday when a bus hit an improvised explosive device near Douentza, in the Mopti region of west Africa nation Mali, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) reported. Many others were wounded, including children. The UN Mission supported Malian armed forces with the medical evacuations of 16 victims and helped secure the site after the incident.
“We are outraged by this horrendous attack on innocent civilians. We convey our condolences to the families of the victims and the Government of Mali, and wish those injured a speedy recovery.”
-Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General stated.
Bus Was Carrying 60 Passengers When It Hit Improvised Explosive Device
Credit: twitter.com/UN_MINUSMA / La Mission évacue 16 blessés par hélicoptère et leur souhaite un rapide et complet rétablissement Sep. 4, 2019.
The bus was travelling from the central town of Douentza to the northern town of Gao, carrying 60 passengers.
Mali Remains Unstable and Dangerous Amid Terror and Ethnic Attacks
In 2012, Islamist radicals linked to al-Qaeda hijacked an uprising by ethnic Tuareg people and went on to seize cities across northern Mali, holding on for nearly a year until they were forced out by a French military intervention, according to the Washington Post. When the 11,000 U.N. troops arrived in 2013, they were meant to protect a fledgling peace deal and train the Malian army. But Islamist extremists regrouped across the region. It did not take long before the militants started targeting peacekeepers, whom they dubbed “Crusader occupation forces.”
MALI CURRENTLY IN A CRISIS SITUATION DESPITE THOUSANDS OF FOREIGN TROOPS DEPLOYED
MINUSMA MALI is the deadliest peacekeeping mission in the world. Since 2013, when MINUSMA deployed, nearly 200 peacekeepers have died in Mali, including close to 120 killed during hostilities. The deadly violence has spiraled out of control this year, in particular, with no end in sight despite the presence of thousands of UN and international peacekeeping troops in Mali, and across the Sahel region
Last month, five soldiers were killed in central Mali on Wednesday when their convoy was ambushed by jihadists.
