African Union authorities say robbers have killed a U.N. military officer near al-Fasher, the capital of north Darfur state, in western Sudan.
An AU spokesman, Noureddine Menzi, says Saturday robbers broke into a house, shot the officer and took property. The officer died after he was taken to a hospital.
The spokesman says the officer, an Egyptian lieutenant colonel, was part of the U.N. effort to bolster peacekeeping efforts in western Sudan.
The U.N. and African Union are assembling a force of more than 20,000 peacekeepers. The joint force is part of a plan to take over peacekeeping duties in Darfur from the current 7,000 AU peacekeepers.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.