14 UN peacekeepers killed in Congo
14 UN peacekeepers killed in Congo:
At least 14 UN troops killed in Congo attack
NAIROBI, Kenya – At least 14 United Nations peacekeepers were killed and dozens were wounded in eastern Congo in one of the deadliest attacks on the international forces in years, U.N. officials reported on Friday.
Heavily armed rebel fighters attacked a forward operating base in a remote part of North Kivu province on Thursday night, firing rocket-propelled grenades and destroying at least one armored personnel carrier, U.N. officials said. The firefight went on for at least three hours, and the majority of those killed and injured were from Tanzania, they said.
“This is the worst attack on U.N. peacekeepers in the organization’s recent history,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement. He called the assault “a war crime” and demanded that authorities in Congo – also known as Democratic Republic of the Congo – bring the perpetrators to justice.
U.N. officials said 53 peacekeepers were also wounded in the attack, and at least five members of Congo’s military were killed.
The death toll appeared to be the highest for U.N. peacekeepers in a single incident since 1993, when 23 “blue helmets” were slain in Mogadishu, Somalia.
• 14 UN peacekeepers killed in Congo