MALI: Fifteen Cambodian Blue Helmet soldiers on a United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) helped rescue some of their colleagues from an improvised explosive device (IED) attack that killed three Senegalese peacekeepers.

According to the National Peacekeeping Center, 15 Cambodian Blue Helmet Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Special Forces, deployed at Mopti in Central Mali under MINUSMA, were actively involved in a life-saving mission following a car bombing attack on a convoy of Senegalese peacekeepers on RN16 in Boule village, Bandigara district.

EOD828 Brigade Commander, Kham Sereyrith, has said that three peacekeepers in the unit died instantly at the scene, while five other soldiers were seriously injured. The Cambodian soldiers in the unit reportedly helped to evacuate the injured soldiers and rushed them to the MINUSMA Hospital.

Currently, there are 788 Cambodian Blue Helmet soldiers, including 130 women, carrying out peacekeeping missions under the United Nations umbrella in four countries, including the South Sudan, Lebanon, the Central Africa Republic and Mali.