Fifteen UN peacekeepers killed in Congo

More than 50 hurt in deadliest attack since ’93

In the deadliest attack on a UN peacekeeping mission in nearly 25 years, rebels in eastern Congo killed 15 peacekeepers and wounded more than 50 others in an assault on their base that was launched at nightfall and went on for hours.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed “outrage and utter heartbreak” and called the attack a war crime, urging Congolese authorities to swiftly investigate. The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs said it was “horrified.”

UN peacekeeping spokesperson Nick Birnback said it was the deadliest attack on a UN peacekeeping mission since June 1993, when 22 Pakistani soldiers were killed in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.

The peacekeepers killed Thursday were from Tanzania. Tanzanian President John Magufuli expressed his shock and prayers for the wounded, three of whom are in critical condition. 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 were missing, the UN said. More than 20 were removed for medical treatment in the regional capital, Goma.

Birnback, the UN peacekeeping spokesperson, called the assault “a determined and well co-ordinated attack by a well-armed group.”

It was not clear when military reinforcements arrived after the attack, the UN said.

Conditions in the region are “very, very challenging,” said UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix, who said the attack followed a recent increase in activities by various armed groups. He called the assault a response to the UN mission’s own “increasingly robust posture.”

“We are disturbing them,” he said. “They do not like it.”