An ambush in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a region wracked by fighting between the army and Ugandan rebels, killed two United Nations peacekeepers on Tuesday, officials said.
The incident was the latest in a spate of unrest that has included a UN helicopter coming under fire, and at least 20 soldiers and rebels dying in clashes.
"It is with sadness and anger that I have just learned of the deaths of peacekeepers in an ambush near Beni," a trading hub in the north of troubled North Kivu province, the head of the UN mission Martin Kobler said on his Twitter account, adding that those killed were Tanzanian nationals.
"I cannot tolerate the repeated attacks on the Blue Helmets in the region of Beni," he said in a series of posts on the micro-blogging platform, pledging that the UN force would conduct "robust offensive operations".
Kobler told AFP that an investigation was underway.
A spokesman for the force, known as MONUSCO, said two peacekeepers were killed, but the number of wounded was not yet clear.
Local administrator Amisi Kalonda, who also said two peacekeepers were killed, said Ugandan rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) staged the ambush in an area around Oicha, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Beni.
Earlier Tuesday, meanwhile, a DR Congo military spokesman said army troops killed 16 ADF rebels in two days of clashes in the region.
It said four soldiers died in the fighting, while a civil society source said 28 soldiers were killed, 22 wounded and eight captured.
Kobler issued a statement Monday after a UN helicopter came under fire by "unidentified armed men" near Oicha.
The Muslim rebels of the ADF, who launched an insurgency in neighbouring Uganda against President Yoweri Museveni in the mid-1990s, are accused of killing more than 260 civilians in and around Beni town between October and December last year.
Most of the victims were hacked to death, in atrocities that prompted a joint operation by the Congolese army and UN troops to put down the jihadist fighters in December.
A degree of calm was restored, but the combined intervention failed to bring a halt to the killings of civilians, which spread northwards to Orientale province.
Since January 1, at least 60 people have lost their lives across the region.
The rebels first established rear bases in the mountains near the Ugandan border in 1995. They are accused of brutal murders, looting and the forced enlistment of child soldiers, while making a profit from illegal trade in tropical timber.
An ambush in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a region wracked by fighting between the army and Ugandan rebels, killed two United Nations peacekeepers on Tuesday, officials said.
The incident was the latest in a spate of unrest that has included a UN helicopter coming under fire, and at least 20 soldiers and rebels dying in clashes.
“It is with sadness and anger that I have just learned of the deaths of peacekeepers in an ambush near Beni,” a trading hub in the north of troubled North Kivu province, the head of the UN mission Martin Kobler said on his Twitter account, adding that those killed were Tanzanian nationals.
“I cannot tolerate the repeated attacks on the Blue Helmets in the region of Beni,” he said in a series of posts on the micro-blogging platform, pledging that the UN force would conduct “robust offensive operations”.
Kobler told AFP that an investigation was underway.
A spokesman for the force, known as MONUSCO, said two peacekeepers were killed, but the number of wounded was not yet clear.
Local administrator Amisi Kalonda, who also said two peacekeepers were killed, said Ugandan rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) staged the ambush in an area around Oicha, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Beni.
Earlier Tuesday, meanwhile, a DR Congo military spokesman said army troops killed 16 ADF rebels in two days of clashes in the region.
It said four soldiers died in the fighting, while a civil society source said 28 soldiers were killed, 22 wounded and eight captured.
Kobler issued a statement Monday after a UN helicopter came under fire by “unidentified armed men” near Oicha.
The Muslim rebels of the ADF, who launched an insurgency in neighbouring Uganda against President Yoweri Museveni in the mid-1990s, are accused of killing more than 260 civilians in and around Beni town between October and December last year.
Most of the victims were hacked to death, in atrocities that prompted a joint operation by the Congolese army and UN troops to put down the jihadist fighters in December.
A degree of calm was restored, but the combined intervention failed to bring a halt to the killings of civilians, which spread northwards to Orientale province.
Since January 1, at least 60 people have lost their lives across the region.
The rebels first established rear bases in the mountains near the Ugandan border in 1995. They are accused of brutal murders, looting and the forced enlistment of child soldiers, while making a profit from illegal trade in tropical timber.
