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A Nigerian peacekeeper has been killed in an ambush by dozens of armed bandits in the Sudanese region of Darfur. The Nigerian peacekeeper died on Monday during an exchange of fire between a Unamid patrol and 40-60 bandits north of Nyala, a United Nations official said. It was not immediately clear who had launched the attack.
A Nigerian peacekeeper has been killed in an ambush by dozens of armed bandits in the Sudanese region of Darfur. The Nigerian peacekeeper died on Monday during an exchange of fire between a Unamid patrol and 40-60 bandits north of Nyala, a United Nations official said. It was not immediately clear who had launched the attack.
The killing of the peacekeeper comes amid a recent rise in the number of attacks against the joint UN-African Union (Unamid) peacekeeping force in Darfur, according to reports. The situation on the ground in Darfur has become increasingly complicated and anarchic as more and more groups take advantage of the lawless situation there.
An estimated 300,000 people have died in five years of conflict in Darfur. Some 2.7 million people have been displaced, according to the UN. The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the government in +Khartoum, complaining of discrimination.
Arab Janjaweed militias are accused of atrocities while retaliating with attacks on black African civilians in Darfur. Sudan's government denies mobilising the militias. The new head of UN peacekeeping recently said that only half of the 26,000 troops authorised for the Unamid force would be deployed by the end of the year.