Hundreds of citizens and military representatives at a funeral service on Friday paid their final respects to the Chinese peacekeeper who died in a terrorist attack in Mali.

First Sergeant Shen Liang-liang, 29, was killed in the terrorist attack in northern Mali on May 31.

Shen was the 11th Chinese serviceman killed in UN peacekeeping missions abroad.

Another five soldiers were also injured in the attack in Mali, the Ministry of Defense said last week.

Shen's body was flown back to Northeast China's Jilin province on Thursday.

His ashes will be interred in his hometown, Wenxian, Henan province.

"Shen lived very simply as he bore the cost of his family. He had just sent 5,000 yuan ($758) back home before he left China. I really miss him," said Yuan Shangjun, political commissioner of the army division in which Shen served. in an interview with China Central Television.

Bian Long, Shen's squadron leader said he wanted to tell Shen's parents that even though the company had lost a good soldier and they lost their son, Shen's companions will take care of them as their son would have.

Last week, the military sent a team of medical specialists to Mali to help care for the five survivors of the terrorist attack.

Led by a senior Defense Ministry official, the team will also work with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission and the Mali government to ensure the safety of peacekeepers.

Mali's former prime minister, Moussa Mara, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency that Chinese peacekeepers in the stabilization mission were doing more than just helping to bring peace to the West African country. China not only provides military and defense assistance to Mali, it extends help to the hearts of the people, he said.

China has strongly condemned the attack, which was claimed by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, and pledged to continue supporting UN peacekeeping operations around the world.

After the attack, the Foreign Ministry announced that the country supports discussions led by the UN Security Council on capacity building for the UN's peacekeeping mission.

The ministry's spokeswoman Hua Chunying also said on June 3 that the Mali government and the UN should immediately carry out measures to protect peacekeepers and prevent a recurrence of such incidents.

yangwanli@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/11/2016 page2)