3 Tanzanian soldiers killed in Congo

NAIROBI, Kenya — Three Tanzanian soldiers were killed and three others injured after a mortar shell landed near their camp in eastern Congo, where the Tanzanians are deployed under the banner of a regional bloc to help quell violence.

It remained unclear who was responsible for the attack on Saturday morning. It was reported on Monday by the regional bloc, the Southern African Development Community, or SADC.

SADC also said in a statement that a South African soldier had died while being treated for undisclosed “health challenges.” It sent condolences to the Tanzanian families of the victims.

The bloc’s peacekeeping mission was launched in December as a longstanding group of U.N. peacekeepers known as MONUSCO gradually pulls out of Congo.

Eastern Congo is rich in minerals, with various armed groups battling for control of resources. The most prominent of them is the M23, which has caused the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in North Kivu province in recent years. The M23 was most recently threatening to take Goma, the largest city in the region.

President Felix Tshisekedi of Congo blames neighboring Rwanda for providing military support to the M23, an allegation Rwandan officials no longer deny after the U.S. earlier this year described the group as backed by Rwanda.

In February, the U.S. urged Rwanda to withdraw its troops and surface-to-air missile systems from eastern Congo, and urged both Rwanda and Congo to pull from the brink of war after a dramatic buildup of weapons at the border.