Three UNAMID Peacekeepers Killed and Two Seriously Injured in North Darfur

El Fasher, 05 December 2009 - At about 1645 hrs on Friday 4 Dec 09, a UNAMID platoon of 20 Rwandan Peacekeepers on board three Land Cruiser pick-ups escorting one water tanker was attacked by a group of unknown armed men in Saraf Umra, North Darfur, 2 km from UNAMID Company location, and 300 meters from a Government of Sudan (GoS) checkpoint.

Two Rwandan soldiers were shot dead at the scene and a third died soon after. Two soldiers were seriously wounded and air-evacuated to El Fasher.

The UNAMID Rwandan team, which had arrived in the area less than two weeks ago, returned fire with restraint due to the presence of civilians who were moving in the incident area. The attackers fled away after they were confronted with UNAMID armed response.

UNAMID condemns in the strongest terms this cowardly criminal attack against its forces and calls on the Government of Sudan to identify the perpetrators, arrest them and bring them to justice.

This attack brings to 20 the number of UNAMID personnel killed in violence since the mission assumed its tasks in Darfur in January 2008.

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