UN says Nigerian peacekeeper killed in Sudan’s Darfur region

The United Nations says a Nigerian peacekeeper serving in the joint U.N.-African Union mission in Sudan’s turbulent Darfur region has been killed in a carjacking.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Thursday that an unidentified group was involved in Wednesday’s incident in Nyala in South Darfur.

He said “the mission strongly condemns this attack which constitutes a violation of international law” and calls on Sudan’s government “to swiftly apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to justice.”

Dujarric said the United Nations joins the mission in extending “deepest condolences” to the family of the peacekeeper, who was not identified, and to the Nigerian government.

Darfur has been witness to bloodshed since 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government in Khartoum, accusing it of discrimination and neglect.