UN crew member killed in attack on helicopter in South Sudan


A United Nations helicopter attempting to evacuate South Sudanese soldiers has come under fire near the town of Nasir, the UN mission (UNMISS) there said, resulting in the death of one crew member and several troops.

The attack came on Friday as the helicopter was trying to airlift soldiers following heavy clashes in Nasir between South Sudanese forces and the White Army militia, a group which President Salva Kiir’s government has linked to forces loyal to his rival and First Vice President Riek Machar.

Read more…
Source: Al Jazeera News


Sign up for Counter-IED Report Newsletter


Related:

  • Cambodia: South Sudan Mine Action Delegation Learns About Mine Action at CMAC

    January 19, 2026

    Heng Ratana, Director General of CMAC, held a working meeting with a delegation from the South Sudan Mine Action Authority, led by Mike Rashid Fulla Obaldo, Director General of the National Mine Action Authority of South Sudan (NMAA South Sudan), during their visit to Cambodia from January 19 to 30, 2026. The meeting took place on ...

  • INTERPOL arrests 11 ‘high-level’ members of terrorist groups in Nigeria

    October 24, 2025

    At least 11 suspected “high-level members of several terrorist groups” have been arrested by the International Criminal Police Organisation, Interpol, in Nigeria. They were among the 83 suspects apprehended across six African countries, in an operation code-named ‘Operation Catalyst’. Countries where arrests were made include Nigeria, Angola, Cameroon, Kenya, Namibia and South Sudan. Read more… Source: Daily Post ...

  • UNMAS South Sudan welcomes support from the Government of Japan

    May 28, 2025

    The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) recently welcomed a contribution from the Government of Japan to support the National Mine Action Authority (NMAA) of South Sudan in strengthening its capacity to coordinate and oversee the mine action sector. South Sudan faces severe challenges from explosive ordnance contamination, endangering civilian lives and delaying humanitarian assistance. This ...

  • UN crew member killed in attack on helicopter in South Sudan

    March 7, 2025

    A United Nations helicopter attempting to evacuate South Sudanese soldiers has come under fire near the town of Nasir, the UN mission (UNMISS) there said, resulting in the death of one crew member and several troops. The attack came on Friday as the helicopter was trying to airlift soldiers following heavy clashes in Nasir between South ...

  • From a supported country to a Global Leader in Mine Action: Cambodia’s Goal of a World Free of Landmines

    October 25, 2024

    Over the 20 years of the Vietnam War and the subsequent conflict, approximately 2.75 million tons of bombs were dropped on Cambodia, and an estimated 4 to 6 million landmines were buried. Following the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement, the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) was established by the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) to ...

  • South Sudan: United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) Clearance makes Ground Safer for Communities in Amadi

    February 28, 2024

    In Amadi, a village located a few kilometers from South Sudan’s capital, Juba, local communities used to live in fear. Unexploded ordnance—a reminder of past civil wars—littered their ancestral lands making farming impossible and posing risks to women, children, and men as they went about their daily tasks. The United Nations Mine Action Service, however, was ...

  • South Sudan: UK announces $2.5m for mine clearance

    February 24, 2024

    The United Kingdom said it will, through its flagship Global Mine Action Programme, contribute $2.65 million to help Mines Advisory Group (MAG) clear land for resettlement and agriculture in South Sudan. Mines and Bomb/Cluster munition remnants present a key challenge to South Sudan’s reconstruction efforts, with an estimated 1,400 people reportedly killed and over 3,800 injured ...

  • Cambodia: CMAC director general discusses demining cooperation with delegates from African countries

    January 22, 2024

    Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center, met with delegates from 5 African countries to discuss demining cooperation. The meeting was held at the CMAC headquarters in Phnom Penh on Monday. The delegates consisted of Mike Rashid Fulla Obaldo, Director General of the National Mine Action Authority of South Sudan, Dahir Abdirahman Abdull, Director ...

  • ‘There is always risk’: The Zimbabwean de-miner in South Sudan

    July 14, 2023

    When the call came from war-ravaged South Sudan in June 2011, Job Tawengwa did not hesitate to say yes. Harare-based Tawengwa, a de-mining and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) expert, knew it would be risky, as usual. His first call to clear landmines came in 1998, from Mozambique, next to his native Zimbabwe. He joined a team ...

  • South Sudan struggles to clear mines after decades of war as people start returning home

    May 31, 2023

    For the first time since fleeing South Sudan’s civil war eight years ago, Jacob Wani returned home excited to rebuild his life. But when the 45-year-old farmer tried to access his land in Eastern Equatoria state’s Magwi County, he was banned, told that it had been labeled hazardous and contaminated with mines. Read more… Source: ABC News  

  • South Sudan: 11 children killed in unexploded ordnance blast in Western Bahr el-Ghazal state

    March 17, 2023

    Eleven children were killed and one injured in an accident involving unexploded ordnance in South Sudan, the spokeswoman for the UN mission in the violence-wracked country (UNMISS) said on Friday. The accident occurred on Thursday in a remote village in Western Bahr el-Ghazal state, northwest of the capital Juba, spokeswoman Linda Tom told Radio Miraya, a ...

  • UNMAS clears active minefield, home to over 1,500 people in Canal, South Sudan

    September 9, 2022

    As powerful barges manned by the Bangladeshi Marine Force Unit deployed to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) make their careful way across the overflowing waters of the White Nile, the air is laced with expectation. Lush, thick vegetation characteristic of the Sudd — one of the world’s largest wetlands — flank both sides ...

  • South Sudan: UNMAS Clears Anti-personnel Mines in Remote Canal, though Community Challenges Remain

    August 17, 2022

    MALAKAL – As powerful barges manned by the Bangladeshi Marine Force Unit deployed to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) make their careful way across the overflowing waters of the White Nile, the air is laced with expectation. Lush, thick vegetation characteristic of the Sudd—one of the world’s largest wetlands—flank both sides of the ...

  • UN demining body explodes landmines in South Sudan

    January 27, 2022

    After decades of civil war, landmines and unexploded bombs still contaminate large tracts of South Sudan’s landscape, threatening the lives and livelihoods of its residents. In the village of Gondokoro, a few kilometres from the capital Juba, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) removes explosive remnants of war. Read more… Source: Euronews  

  • South Sudan: Floods hampering UNMAS demining work in Jonglei State’s Pigi County

    January 17, 2022

    It may look idyllic, but the presence of a minefield is a threat to these villagers in Pigi County. Floods have so far made clearance of the area impossible. Residents in Pigi County, on the Jonglei State side of the river border with Upper Nile State, need to tread carefully. Floods mean that the recommendation by ...

  • South Sudan: Risk education conducted by UNMAS benefits displaced schoolchildren in Unity state

    November 30, 2021

    “I have learned to be mindful of objects, no matter how familiar they look,” said Nyedel Tap Hoth a pupil of Naath Primary School in the Internally Displaced Person’s camp in Bentiu. Nydel was speaking after a 45-minute awareness raising session conducted by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) for students of the school. “In ...

  • UK funding for land mine clearance scrapped in Lebanon, Iraq and S. Sudan

    October 9, 2021

    UK government funding for land mine clearance in Lebanon, Iraq and South Sudan, as well as three other countries, has been scrapped in what humanitarian organisations called a “catastrophic collapse in support”. The Mines Advisory Group (MAG) released a statement earlier this week estimating that UK funding for mine action removal will be reduced by 80 ...

  • MAG responds to catastrophic collapse in UK support for landmine clearance

    October 8, 2021

    Below is a statement from MAG CEO Darren Cormack, responding to the news that UK funding for humanitarian mine action has been slashed by 80 per cent. MANCHESTER — The UK Government’s decision to reduce its funding for humanitarian mine action by 80 per cent is a catastrophic collapse in support that will harm the lives ...

  • Cambodian dog, Kunthea, boards flight to South Sudan for demining works

    March 2, 2021

    Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC)’s director-general, Heng Ratana said Kunthea, born in Cambodia and trained by CMAC technicians, was ordered by APOPO-Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling for mine and UXO clearance mission in South Sudan. Kunthea is one of the six detection dogs under APOPO’s purchasing order to carry out humanitarian demining work abroad, such as ...

  • South Sudanese Still Face Threat from Unexploded Mines, Munitions

    January 22, 2021

    Many South Sudanese have been returning home to farm the land and live their lives after United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) workers spent years clearing huge portions of the country that were littered with unexploded ordnance. Still, officials warn the work is far from over. In December, U.N .mine workers detonated a number of unexploded ...

  • UN to set up new peacekeeping base in South Sudan

    September 2, 2020

    The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said on Wednesday it will set up a temporary peacekeeping base in Central Equatoria’s Lobonok County. The decision followed a surge in armed attacks on civilians and humanitarian convoys in the region, UNMISS said in a statement. The rise in violence came after the killing of six bodyguards of ...

  • Japan contributes US$ 209K to UNMAS for mine action project in South Sudan

    May 6, 2020

    Since 2011, Japan has contributed over the US $17 million to humanitarian mine action in South Sudan, preventing physical harm to civilians, improving access to basic services, and helping people rebuild their lives in the wake of conflict. The Government of Japan has contributed the US $209,090 to the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), for ...