FOURTEEN UN PEACEKEEPERS have been killed in eastern Congo.
UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said he was “outraged” by the attack which occurred in the North Kivu province. He said on Twitter that medical evacuations were ongoing from the scene. He did not identify the attackers.
A United Nations spokesman says 14 peacekeepers have been killed and over 40 wounded in an attack in eastern Congo.
Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said at least five Congolese soldiers were also killed in the attack in North Kivu province.
Haq said the peacekeepers are mainly from the Tanzanian contingent.
“It’s a very huge attack, certainly the worst in recent memory,” Haq said.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Congo is the largest and most expensive in the world and is aimed at calming a number of armed groups in the vast, mineral-rich Central African nation.
Radio Okapi, which is linked to the peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO, reported that peacekeepers repelled an attack by fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces rebel group on a UN base in the Beni area.
The base is home to the peacekeeping mission’s rapid intervention force, which has a mandate to go on the offensive.
The radio station, citing military sources, said fighting lasted four hours. It reported that Congolese forces did not intervene because the closest ones were several miles away.
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