Three United Nations peacekeepers who were assaulted on Friday while trying to stop the unauthorised construction of a road inside the buffer zone near Pyla, have been discharged from hospital, according to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), informs in-cyprus.
Earlier on Saturday, President Christodoulides and the government expressed their wishes for the speedy recovery of the peacekeepers.
Social Welfare Deputy Minister, Marilena Evangelou, said in a post on X that she contacted the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) and conveyed the wishes of President Christodoulides and the government for the speedy recovery of the injured UNFICYP members from the attack in Pyla.
The peacekeepers were attacked on Friday morning by personnel in Turkish Cypriot police and military uniforms while trying to stop the construction of an 11.5 km road linking Pyla to Arsos in breakaway north Cyprus.
A spokesperson for the UN mission said three peacekeepers were seriously injured and required hospitalisation.
“One was kicked to the ground,” the spokesperson, Aleem Siddique, said.
According to Reuters, the incident occurred in an area known as Sector 4, under the control of a Slovakian military contingent. It was reinforced by British peacekeepers.
The planned road traverses territory inside the buffer zone which is under UN control. The UN had already expressed concerns over the move which disturbs the zone’s status quo.
Many countries including the US, France, China, and the UK, as well as the UN and the EU, have condemned the incident.