Attack on U.N. soldiers kills 15

KINSHASA, Congo — In the deadliest single attack on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in recent memory, rebels in eastern Congo killed at least 15 peacekeepers and wounded more than 50 in an assault on their base that was launched at nightfall and went on for hours.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed “outrage and utter heartbreak” and called the attack a war crime, urging Congolese authorities to swiftly investigate.

The peacekeepers killed were from Tanzania. At least five Congolese soldiers also were killed in the attack Thursday evening that has been blamed on one of the region’s deadliest rebel groups. Three peacekeepers remained missing, the United Nations said. More than 20 were evacuated for medical treatment in the regional capital, Goma.

The base is home to the U.N. mission’s rapid intervention force, which has a rare mandate to go on the offensive against armed groups in the vast, mineral-rich region.

The peacekeeping base is about 27 miles from the town of Beni, which has been repeatedly attacked by the Allied Democratic Forces rebel group, which is suspected in Thursday’s assault. While the fighters are mainly Muslim, experts say there are no proven links between the rebels and other extremist organizations in Africa.

The ADF intensified attacks several years ago, and human rights groups say at least 1,000 people have been killed in the last three years.

The U.N. mission in Congo is the largest and most expensive in the world, and it has been a high-profile target of the Trump administration’s cost-cutting efforts. Nearly 300 peacekeepers have been killed since the mission arrived in 1999, according to U.N. data.