UN Sec. Gen. condemns death of 7 peacekeepers in Ivory Coast

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has strongly condemned an ambush in Ivory Coast that killed seven UN peacekeepers.        

He warned that the peacekeepers still in the area remained in danger from the attackers.          

Ban told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York on Friday that more than 40 UN peacekeepers remained with villagers in the southwestern Ivory Coast area to protect them from the armed group.    

He said he was "outraged" and demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice.     Ban said the seven peacekeepers killed were from Niger, and expressed his "deepest condolences" to the Niger government and the peacekeepers' families.       

Bert Koenders, the UN envoy to Ivory Coast, said the peacekeepers were part of a patrol south of the town of Tai, in an area that the UN mission recently reinforced because of threats of attacks against civilians.        

A spokesman for the UN peacekeeping department said there were plans to move in reinforcements as soon as it was daylight.      

The mayor of Tai told the Associated Press that hundreds of villagers were fleeing the area following the attack on the peacekeepers.      

The United Nations has had a peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast since 2004.      

At the end of April, the UN said there were about 9,400 peacekeeping troops, 200 military observers and 1,350 international police in the mission along with civilian staff.       

Over 40 countries are contributing military personnel.      

APTN