UNITED NATIONS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Security Council on Sunday condemned an attack on the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali that left one peacekeeper killed and many others injured.
Saturday's attack in the northern town of Timbuktu left one UN peacekeeper from Burkina Faso dead, and more than a dozen others, including French soldiers deployed separately in Mali, injured.
In a press statement, the council expressed deepest condolences and sympathy to the family of the victim, as well as to the government of Burkina Faso and to the UN mission, known by its French acronym as Minusma.
The Security Council called on the Malian government to swiftly investigate this attack and bring the perpetrators to justice.
It underlined that attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law. Involvement in planning, directing, sponsoring or conducting attacks against Minusma peacekeepers constitutes a basis for sanctions designations pursuant to Security Council resolutions, said the statement.
The Security Council expressed concern about the security situation in Mali and the transnational dimension of the terrorist threat in the Sahel region and urged the Malian parties to fully implement the Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali without further delay.
The Security Council stressed that these heinous acts will not undermine its determination to continue to support the peace and reconciliation process in Mali.
