PHNOM PENH, May 14 – Two Cambodian military personnel, who were on a peacekeeping mission in the conflict-torn East African nation of South Sudan, had been killed, Defense Minister Gen. Tea Seiha said on Wednesday.

Seiha, who is also a deputy prime minister, said the two peacekeepers had died on their mission in Malakal town, Upper Nile State.

“This is the loss of two outstanding military personnel, who had sacrificed their lives for the cause of maintaining peace under the umbrella of the United Nations,” he said in a post on his official Facebook page.

“I pray for their souls to rest in peace,” he added.

Cambodia sent 73 military personnel to South Sudan in February to join a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission.

The Southeast Asian nation first sent troops overseas on the UN peacekeeping missions in 2006. So far, the country has dispatched a total of 9,826 peacekeepers, including 857 women, to join UN peacekeeping missions in 10 countries, according to the National Centre for Peacekeeping Forces.

Currently, the Cambodian peacekeepers have been serving in UN peacekeeping operations in South Sudan, Lebanon, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

XINHUA