Militants attacked two military bases in northeastern Congo on Monday, killing a UN peacekeeper and injuring a dozen others, the UN mission and the army said.
The attack took place in Beni where UN soldiers have been battling the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which is a Ugandan Islamist group active near the border between Congo and Uganda, a spokesman for the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo said.
Congolese troops had clashed with the rebels in the area on Sunday. The day before, the ADF attacked around 10 motorbike taxis in the locality.
"The Mamundioma base was attacked at 5:30 am (0330 GMT)," the UN mission known by its French acronym MONUSCO said, referring to a village near the city of Beni.
The mission said it had deployed attack helicopters in response to the raid.
The UN did not specify the nationality of the dead soldier or the injured.
“I can confirm an attack on the MONUSCO base at Mamundioma this morning which killed one peacekeeper and injured 12,” said the spokeswoman for the UN’s Congo mission Florence Marchal.
Army spokesman Mak Hazukay said the attacks were carried out simultaneously and blamed the ADF for them. He said the UN base houses Tanzanian peacekeepers that formed part of an intervention brigade which has a mandate to conduct offensive operations against militants.
Congolese authorities have blamed the ADF for massacres between 2014-2016 in the area that killed more than 800 people. However, independent and UN experts say several armed groups as well as national army commanders have been involved.
