August 14, 2012 (ADDIS ABABA) - The African Union (AU) Commission has strongly condemned Sunday’s attack against members of the Bangladeshi Formed Police Unit (FPU) in the AU?UN Hybrid Operations in Darfur (UNAMID).

The incident, UNAMID said in a press release, occurred when an armed gang reportedly fired at their staff in the mission’s community policing centre inside the Otash camp for internally displaced persons in South Darfur State, killing a peacekeeper from Bangladesh.

Another peacekeeper, it added, was also seriously injured after the gruesome attack.

“The Commission strongly condemns this unprovoked and cowardly attack. It extends AU’s deepest condolences to the family of the fallen peacekeeper and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured,” said the AU, in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune.

It further called for investigations into the matter, saying the perpetrators, if identified, should be brought to justice.

The AU statement comes less than a day after the mission’s Acting Joint Special Representative (JSR) Aichatou Mindaoudou also condemned the attack, calling on Sudanese authorities to make serious efforts to apprehend the culprits who reportedly fled the scene after the shooting.

The incident brings the number of UNAMID peacekeepers killed since the deployment of the mission in 2007 to 38.

Darfur has been witnessing an upsurge of violence since the assassination of a local official in the northern part of the region earlier this month sparked a wave of revenge attacks that killed 21 people and created dire humanitarian conditions in an IDP camp according to local NGOs figures.

(ST).