An attack on the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) resulted Friday in the death of one peacekeeper and the injury of eight other peacekeepers. MINUSMA reported that the attack involved an improvised explosive device (IED) and direct fire. MINUSMA condemned the attack and reaffirmed their commitment to “bring stability and peace to the people of Mali.”

MINUSMA was established in 2013 by UN Security Council Resolution 2640. MINUSMA’s mandated priority is to implement the Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali. The mission currently has over 15,000 troops in Mali, mostly from Chad and Bangladesh.

This is not the first time the UN has encountered hostilities in Mali. Previously, in February, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk condemned and called upon Mali to reverse its expulsion of Guillaume Ngefa-Atondoko Andali, head of MINUSMA, from the country.

The most recent UN report on the situation in Mali states that the region is a center of hostilities between the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) and the state of Mali. Both ISGS and JNIM are designated as terrorist organizations by the United States. Reuters reported that 303 MINUSMA personnel have been killed on the mission in the past decade, making it the deadliest UN peacekeeping mission in the world.