Mali court sentences man to death over UN peacekeeper deaths

By -
UN peacekeepers in Mali
A court in Mali has sentenced a man to death over a 2019 attack that killed three United Nations peacekeepers, the peacekeeping mission MINUSMA said on Wednesday, without naming the defendant.

Mali, an arid West African country run by a military government, has been struggling for a decade with violence from armed non-state actors that has spread across the Sahel region despite costly international efforts to quash it.

According to international media repots, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, as MINUSMA is officially known, has been operational in the country since 2013. But the peacekeepers’ presence has not stopped armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) from attacking villages and towns, army bases and police stations.

The trial centred on an attack on five peacekeepers travelling through the rural commune of Siby in southern Mali, around 50km (31 miles) from the capital Bamako, on February 22, 2019. Three were killed, all from Guinea, which has one of the largest contingents in the mission.

Bamako’s criminal court on Tuesday convicted the man of acts of criminal association, murder, robbery and illegal possession of firearms in connection with the Siby attack, MINUSMA said.

Judges imposed the death penalty, which has not been carried out in Mali since a moratorium was placed on executions in 1980.

The MINUSMA statement did not name the convicted man and gave no details about what plea he entered. The court could not be reached for comment.

MINUSMA has deployed over 13,000 troops to contain the violence, which is concentrated in Mali’s north and centre.

The mission has recorded 281 deaths of MINUSMA personnel, many killed when convoys hit improvised explosive devices planted by the armed groups.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

At least 11 dead, others injured after train catches fire near Rahim Yar Khan

By Admin -
Image
At least 11 passengers lost their lives and 30 others sustained burn injuries when three carriages of a Tezgam Express caught fire due to explosion in a gas stove, according to initial reports. Meanwhile, firefighters have initiated a rescue operation to extinguish the fire and other passengers are being evacuated from the train to safe places. The affected carriages are being separated from the train. The train, Tezgam, was on its way from Karachi to Rawalpindi, when a gas cylinder carried by a passenger exploded, leaving several dead and injured. The fire was caused by the explosion in a gas cylinder, confirmed the Pakistan Railways official. According to details, the passengers were cooking breakfast when the gas cylinder exploded. After the blast, the raging fire engulfed two other coaches as well. Fire fighters were still extinguishing the fire as per last reports.
Read more

Three soldiers martyred in terrorist attack on checkpost in Balochistan’s Zarghoon

By -
Image
As many as three soldiers embraced martyrdom and one terrorist was killed in an exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists in Zarghun, the area of Balochistan on Saturday. According to the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), an operation was launched in the area against suspected terrorists who attacked a security post. “Troops on the post retaliated readily to the fire raid thereby, pushing back the terrorists,” stated the military’s media wing. In the ensuing exchange of fire, three soldiers were martyred while one terrorist was also killed. The military identified the martyred soldiers as Sepoy Zaheer Ahmed, Sepoy Mudassir Shaheed and Lance Naik Abdul Qadeer. The ISPR stated that the post had recently been established to “check extortion efforts targeting coal mines in the area”. “Based on follow-up ISR effort, likely hideout of fleeing terrorists has been identified in nearby mountains and a deliberate blocking and sanitisation op...
Read more

Legal process to try May 9 planners, perpetrators under army act begins: COAS

By -
Image
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir has said that the legal process of trial against planners, instigators, abettors and perpetrators involved in the May 9 mayhem has commenced under Pakistan Army Act and Official Secret Act as per existing and established legal procedures derived from the Constitution. The army chief's statement came as he visited Jinnah House and an army installation in Lahore, which were blatantly attacked and vandalised by “politically motivated” rioters, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a handout. The COAS was also given a briefing on events of May 9 dubbed by the military as ‘Black Day’ — the day when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters ransacked and torched military installations across the country following the arrest of their leader Imran Khan in a graft case. Addressing the garrison officers and soldiers at Corps Headquarters, Gen Munir emphasised that any action aimed at widening a gulf between people and the milita...
Read more