The United Nations (UN) honored eight fallen peacekeepers from Bangladesh to mark the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers on Thursday.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said their service and sacrifices will never be forgotten, according to a press release from the UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Dhaka.

Guterres presided over a ceremony at which the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal was awarded posthumously to 129 military, police and civilian peacekeepers, including the eight from Bangladesh, Daily Tribune reported.

They lost their lives serving under the UN flag last year and in the first month of this year, said the release.

The fallen Bangladeshi peacekeepers are Abdul Md Halim who served with MINUSMA; Lance Corporal Md Abdulla Al Mamun and Sergeant t Mohammad Ibrahim who served with UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), Sergeant Md Mobarak Hussain, Lt Col Md Saiful ISLAM, Md Saiful Imam Bhuiyan and Sergeant Md Ziaur RAHMAN who were deployed with the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO); and Washerman Nurul AMIN of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

Bangladesh is the largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping.

It currently deploys more than 6,600 military and police personnel to the UN operations in Abyei, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, Mali, South Sudan, and Western Sahara.

(SAM)