DAKAR, Senegal — Fourteen peacekeepers have been killed and more than 40 wounded in an attack in eastern Congo, an official said.
United Nations spokesman Farhan Haq added that at least five Congolese soldiers were also killed in Thursday’s attack in North Kivu province.
“It’s a very huge attack, certainly the worst in recent memory,” Haq said, adding that the dead were mainly from the Tanzanian contingent.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo is the largest and most expensive in the world and is aimed at calming a number of armed groups in the vast, mineral-rich Central African nation.
Earlier, U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said he was “outraged” by the incident.
Radio Okapi, which is linked to the peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO, reported that peacekeepers on Thursday repelled an attack by fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces rebel group on a U.N. base in the Beni area. The base is home to the peacekeeping mission’s rapid intervention force, which has a rare mandate to go on the offensive.
Citing military sources, the radio station said fighting lasted four hours.
