SA blue helmets die in DRC
2004-06-06 20:23
Pretoria - South Africa confirmed on Sunday that two of its peacekeepers serving with the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo were killed and several others injured in an attack near the eastern city of Goma.
"Two of our peacekeeping troops were killed in the attack," foreign ministry spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said.
He said the ministry had received reports of 11 South Africans wounded.
"Eleven people were injured and they've been flown to Kindu for medical attention," Mamoepa said.
Earlier, the Goma spokesperson for the UN mission, Jacqueline Chenard, told AFP by phone that "two South African blue helmets are dead and nine others are wounded".
Two trucks in which peacekeepers were travelling, were attacked by unidentified armed men around midday near Rugari, about 40km north of Goma, the capital of Nord-Kivu province.
About 40 MONUC personnel have died in the DRC since the mission was deployed in 2001, when the country was still in the throes of a rebel war that drew in troops from more than half a dozen countries in the region.
- AFP