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At least six Bangladeshi peacekeepers were killed in a \u201cterrorist\u201d attack on a United Nations base in Abyei, a disputed region between Sudan and South Sudan, the Bangladesh army said.<\/p>\n
The attack on Saturday also injured another eight people, the army stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation in the area is still unstable and clashes with terrorists are ongoing,\u201d the army said in a statement, adding that the authorities were working to provide medical treatment and rescue operations for those injured.<\/p>\n
There was no immediate comment from the UN mission.<\/p>\n
The attack comes just a month after the United Nations Security Council voted to renew<\/span> a UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), the peacekeeping mission in the oil-rich disputed region between Sudan and South Sudan, for another year.<\/p>\n Bangladesh is one of the largest contributors to UN peacekeeping missions, and its troops have long been deployed in Abyei, a volatile region disputed between Sudan and South Sudan.<\/p>\n UNISFA\u2019s peacekeeping mission was first deployed in 2011.<\/p>\n The 4,000 police and soldiers of UNISFA are tasked with protecting civilians in the region plagued by frequent armed clashes.<\/p>\n The Abyei region is split between two different groups with different loyalties.<\/p>\n The Ngok Dinka tribe have strong ethnic, cultural and linguistic ties to the Dinka of South Sudan, while the Misseriya are a nomadic Arab tribe with links to Sudan.<\/p>\n Abyei\u2019s future was a critical feature of the 2005 peace deal that was signed between the Sudanese government and rebels that ended the civil war then and led the way to South Sudan\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n However, unrest in the disputed area with South Sudan also continues at a time when Sudan is devastated by a more recent civil war<\/span> that erupted in April 2023, when two generals started fighting over control of the country.<\/p>\n Sudan\u2019s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been committing atrocities in Darfur<\/span> and other regions, have also been active in Abyei.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n