Here’s a look at violence against UN peacekeeping forces. This is a selected list of incidents from 1990 to present.
Facts
Since 1948, the United Nations has authorized more than 71 peacekeeping missions around the globe.
There are currently 12 peacekeeping operations.
Since 1948, at least 4,314 peacekeepers have been killed in operations (as of June 30, 2023).
As of March 31, 2023, there are approximately 88,686 peacekeeping personnel from 121 countries.
Timeline
1993 - At least 16 peacekeepers are killed in Cambodia, allegedly by Khmer Rouge guerrillas.
June 5, 1993 - In Mogadishu, Somalia, forces loyal to warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid ambush and kill 24 Pakistani peacekeepers.
September 5, 1993 - Seven peacekeepers from Nigeria are killed in Mogadishu, Somalia, in an ambush by gunmen loyal to Aidid.
May 17, 1994 - Five UN peacekeepers from Nepal are killed in a gun battle in Mogadishu, Somalia.
May 4, 2000 - In Sierra Leone, seven peacekeepers from Kenya are killed by rebels.
February 25, 2005 - Seven peacekeepers from Bangladesh are killed in an ambush in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
January 23, 2006 - Rebels in the DRC kill eight peacekeepers from Guatemala.
June 24, 2007 - Six UN peacekeepers are killed in southern Lebanon by a car bomb.
June 8, 2012 - Armed assailants kill seven peacekeepers in Ivory Coast.
April 9, 2013 - Five UN peacekeepers from India are killed in South Sudan.
July 13, 2013 - Gunmen ambush a peacekeeping force in the Darfur region of Sudan, killing seven Tanzanian troops.
September 18, 2014 - Five UN peacekeepers from Chad are killed and three others are injured when a UN vehicle hits a homemade bomb in northern Mali.
October 3, 2014 - Nine UN peacekeepers from Niger are killed in an ambush in Mali, when their convoy is attacked near Menaka, in the country’s eastern Gao region, by heavily armed men on motorcycles.
July 2, 2015 - Six UN peacekeepers from Burkina Faso are killed and five others are injured when their convoy is attacked in the West African nation of Mali.
May 29, 2016 - Five UN peacekeepers are killed in an ambush in Mali.
May 8, 2017 - Five peacekeepers are killed overnight in the Central African Republic near the town of Bangassou by a Christian rebel group.
August 14, 2017 - A total of eight people are killed in two separate attacks on the United Nations mission in Mali. Seven people are killed when armed men attack the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) headquarters in Timbuktu – five MINUSMA security guards, one member of the Mali National Police and one civilian contractor working for MINUSMA. A separate attack takes place against MINUSMA in Douenza, around 130 miles south of Timbuktu, killing one peacekeeper and one Malian national soldier. No claims of responsibility are made, and no concrete link between the two attacks is established.
December 8, 2017 - The UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC says that 15 peacekeepers were killed, and 53 others injured. Mission officials believe the rebel group Allied Democratic Forces carried out the attack. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says it is the “worst attack on UN peacekeepers in the organization’s recent history.”
January 20, 2019 - Ten UN peacekeepers from Chad are killed and at least 25 others are injured after an attack against a MINUSMA camp in Aguelhok in northern Mali.
December 8, 2021 - Seven UN peacekeepers from Togo are killed and three others injured by an improvised explosive device in central Mali.
March 29, 2022 - Eight UN peacekeepers die in a helicopter crash in the eastern DRC amid rebel fighting in the region. Six of the crew members were from Pakistan, and two were military staff from Russia and Serbia, the UN peacekeeping mission says in a statement.