Seven peacekeepers killed in Darfur: UN

17 more injured in the peace operation's worst ever human losses.

KHARTOUM: Seven peacekeepers have been killed in Sudan's Darfur region, the African Union-UN Mission said on Saturday, the worst-ever losses in the five-year history of the operation.

UNAMID released few initial details of the incident, which it said happened near the peacekeepers' base at Manawashi, north of the South Darfur state capital Nyala.

"Seven peacekeepers were killed and 17 were injured," said UNAMID's acting spokesperson Christopher Cycmanick.

The incident happened about 25 kilometres (16 miles) west of another UNAMID base at Khar Abeche, north of the South Darfur state capital Nyala, Cycmanick said.

The patrol "was going from one team site to another," he added.

UNAMID did not reveal nationalities of the victims, but Tanzanian troops are understood to be in charge of that area.

Pakistan also contributes significantly to the UN Peacekeeping forces with some deployed in African conflict zones. The Pakistan army was approached for a comment but no reply was received till the filing of this report.

In May, the UN posthumously recognised services of four Pakistani UN peacekeepers. In early May, one Pakistani peacekeeper had been killed during an ambush in the DR Congo.