Five Indian peacekeepers ‘killed in South Sudan’

UN peacekeepers driving past a destroyed truck near Abyei, on May 30, 2011.  By Stuart Price (UNMIS/AFP)

UN peacekeepers driving past a destroyed truck near Abyei, on May 30, 2011. By Stuart Price (UNMIS/AFP)






NEW DELHI (AFP) – Five Indian peacekeepers escorting a United Nations convoy in South Sudan have been killed in an ambush by rebels, the Indian foreign ministry announced on Tuesday.

“Five peacekeepers from India with UNMISS (United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan) killed in ambush in Jonglei,” foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin wrote on Twitter.

He confirmed the deaths to AFP and said the soldiers had been killed while “escorting a UN convoy”.