BANGUI, Central African Republic, June 22, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A Zambian peacekeeper with the United Nations mission in the Central African Republic has been killed in an attack in the northeast of the conflict-riven country, the UN said Saturday.

Another Zambian soldier was wounded Friday after "unidentified armed elements" targeted a peacekeeper patrol in Am-Sissia, in the Vakaga province bordering civil-war-ravaged Sudan, a statement on the UN mission's Facebook page said.

"This attack is the third deadly attack against the mission's patrols since the beginning of the year 2025," the statement added.

Bemoaning a "multiplication of attacks against peacekeepers", MINUSCA head Valentine Rugwabiza urged the CAR" to spare no effort to identify the perpetrators of these acts so that they are quickly brought to justice".

A Kenyan soldier with the mission was killed in the Haut-Mbomou prefecture in March.

The month before, a Tunisian peacekeeper died in the north of the country.

And two Nepalese peacekeepers were wounded at the beginning of the week after an attack in the southwest.

Around 150 blue helmets have died in the CAR since the UN's MINUSCA mission began in 2014.

Its purpose is to stabilise the restive nation, which has endured decades of civil wars and authoritarian governments.

Faced with a worsening security situation, the 17,000-strong force has had to ramp up patrols, according to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees published in February.

Among the world's poorest countries, the CAR shares a border in Vakaga province with Sudan, which has been plunged into conflict between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023.

According to a UN experts report from June 2024, the RSF recruits fresh fighters from the CAR and uses the country for supply lines outside Sudan.

Sudan's civil war has killed tens of thousands and displaced 14 million people, with four million of those fleeing abroad as refugees.

In the CAR itself, advances by the country's army, its allies from Rwanda and mercenaries from Russia's paramilitary Wagner group have helped to improve security.

But violence persists, especially on the roads in the country's northwest and east.