Gunmen attack peacekeepers in North Darfur

January 7, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Unknown gunmen attacked a force of the hybrid peacekeeping mission in western Sudan (UNAMID), said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Thursday.

“A note from Darfur, where the African Union-UN Mission in Darfur says that a patrol was ambushed today by an unidentified armed group near Anka, North Darfur,” Dujarric told reporters at a press conference at the UN Headquarters.

“The perpetrators, who greatly outnumbered UNAMID’s peacekeepers, seized one machine gun, four rifles and rounds of ammunition,” he said.

He further pointed that the UNAMID works with the Sudanese authorities to investigate the incident.

Last month the Justice and Equality Movement – Dabajo said militiamen riding over 40 vehicles attacked several villages in Anka area, Kutum county in North Darfur and looted herds of cattle. The former rebel group said the assailants came from Kutum town.

But the Defence Minister Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Ouf on Monday denied that the attack had been carried out by the government troops or its militiamen in the region.

Ibn Ouf who was briefing the MPs said the foreign assailants came from outside the country and clashed with soldiers of the Sixth Infantry Division, stationed in Anka area.

Sudanese government, in the past, reacted strongly against the passivity of UNAMID peacekeepers when they are attacked by gunmen and disarmed from their weapons.

(ST)