KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Six Indian members of a U.N. peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo along with an interpreter were ambushed and wounded, the U.N. mission said.
The incident occurred Wednesday near Buganza in North Kivu province in the strife-torn eastern part of the country. The peacekeepers and their interpreter were returning from a patrol when they were attacked by unknown assailants, said the U.N. mission in the African nation. The peacekeepers had earlier found the bodies of four civilians in the area.
The extent of their injuries was not immediately known but the attack was condemned as "cowardly." The injured peacekeepers are part of India's contingent with the U.N. Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC.
"This premeditated, targeted and deliberate attack is inadmissible," said Roger Meece, head of the U.N. mission. "We will work with the national authorities to identify those responsible for this ignoble deed so that they are called to justice."
It was in the same province that an Indian peacekeeper was killed last July during clashes between the DRC's armed forces and the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group.
The country's eastern provinces of North and South Kivu have been the scene of many such clashes between DRC troops and the M23 made up of soldiers who'd mutinied in April, the mission said. Their fighting has displaced more than 300,000 people, including those who have sought refuge in neighboring Rwanda and Uganda.
The 19,000-member U.N. peacekeeping force has helped bring stability and civilian elections to the country, the mission said.
