6 Indian peacekeepers wounded in Congo

Six Indian peacekeepers and a local interpreter, serving with the United Nations mission in strife-torn Congo, were wounded when their patrol was ambushed in what is being termed as a ‘targetted and deliberate’ attack. The six peacekeepers were part of the Indian contingent serving with the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo [MONUSCO]. They were ambushed along with their interpreter while returning from a patrol with 12 other peacekeepers near Buganza in North Kivu province on October 17 after finding the bodies of four civilians, the mission said in a news release. ‘This premeditated, targeted and deliberate attack is inadmissible,’ said the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of MONUSCO, Roger Meece. ‘We will work with the national authorities to identify those responsible for this ignoble deed so that they are called to justice.’ A UN Indian peacekeeper was killed in the same province in July when he was caught in a cross-fire in clashes between Congo’s armed forces and a rebel group known as 23 March Movement [M23].