Beni – Seven United Nations peacekeepers were killed in an operationagainst a rebel militia in eastern DR Congo, the UN said on Thursday.
Ten other peacekeeping troops were wounded, and another is missing, UNspokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York.
Several Congolese were also killed or wounded in the joint operation, hesaid.
The deaths mark the biggest loss by the large UN force in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo since the rebels killed 15 troops nearly a year ago.
Earlier Thursday, General Bernard Commins, deputy head of the MONUSCOforce, said a joint operation had been launched with DRC troops on Tuesdayagainst the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a jihadi group blamed forbloody attacks on civilians.
The offensive aimed at Kididiwe, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Beni,a city of between 200,000 and 300,000 inhabitants, said Commins.
“We are holding Kididiwe at present, after violent fighting with an armedgroup. At present, we are evacuating wounded Congolese troops and BlueHelmets,” he told AFP. He added he was unable to provide any informationabout reports at that time of fatalities.
Six peacekeepers from Malawi and one from Tanzania were killed, the UN saidin New York.
Malawi’s armed forces confirmed earlier that four of its soldiers withMONUSCO — a sergeant and three privates aged between 29 and 38 — had beenkilled on Wednesday.
The military “has lost courageous, hardworking and disciplined soldiers whowere always ready to serve to ensure that peace prevails,” the MalawiDefence Force said in a statement.
It gave no further details on where or how they died.
Commins described Kididiwe as a “major stronghold” of the ADF.
A Congolese officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the town hadbeen used as a springboard for militia attacks on Beni’s suburbs this year.
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On Wednesday, Commins said MONUSCO had deployed attack helicopters againstADF forces threatening UN troops in the Mayangose area, northeast of Beni.
The region is also battling an Ebola outbreak that has left more than 200dead. Insecurity is hampering efforts to contain the disease, the UNspokesman said.
– Notorious militia –
The ADF is an Islamist-rooted group that rose in western Uganda in 1995,led by Jamil Mukulu, a Christian turned Muslim.
Forced out of Uganda, it operates in the border area in the DRC’s NorthKivu province.
It has been blamed for recruiting and using child soldiers, killinghundreds of civilians since 2014, as well as 15 Tanzanian peacekeepers, whodied in an attack in December 2017.
Those fatalities were the biggest loss of life in a UN peacekeeping forcesince 1993 when 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in Somalia during clasheswith a local warlord.
On Monday, MONUSCO’s head, Leila Zerrougui, sounded the alarm over violencein the eastern DRC, saying it cast a shadow over the country’s elections onDecember 23.
“I have grown increasingly alarmed over the situation in Beni in recentmonths, where we continue to face major challenges in implementing ourmandate,” she added.
“There is a potential for armed group interference in elections in specificareas throughout eastern DRC,” she said.
MONUSCO has around 17,000 members, making it one of the UN’s biggestpeacekeeping operations. Created in 1999 during the Second Congo War, ithas an annual budget of $1.153 billion (1.02 billion euros). – APP/AFP
