BSS, Dhaka

Six Bangladeshi peacekeepers who lost their lives while serving under the UN flag in Abyei will be posthumously honoured with the prestigious Dag Hammarskjöld Medal at the United Nations Headquarters on June 5.

The medals will be presented by UN Secretary-General António Guterres during a ceremony marking the International Day of UN Peacekeepers at the UN Headquarters in New York.

The six Bangladeshi peacekeepers are Md Jahangir Alam, Md Sobuj Mia, Md Masud Rana, Md Mominul Islam, Shamim Reza and Santo Mondol. They were killed in a drone strike on December 13, 2025.

Bangladesh is currently the 4th-largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping operations, with over 4,000 personnel, including 277 women, deployed in missions in Abyei, the Central African Republic, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, Libya, South Sudan and Western Sahara.