UN helicopter with 8 on board crashes in DR Congo, army blames M23 rebels
Pakistan army says 6 of its soldiers on board helicopter killed in incident
KIGALI, Rwanda
The Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday accused M23 rebels of shooting down a UN helicopter that crashed in the country’s east. Eight people were on board the helicopter.
“The helicopter with on board eight peacekeepers crew members and United Nations Observers was shot down in the area controlled by M23,” said Brig. Gen. Sylvain Ekenge, the deputy spokesman for the Congolese armed forces.
“The helicopter was shot down in the midst of a harmless mission to assess population movements caused by the M23 attacks in the region, in anticipation of the humanitarian actions to be undertaken,” Ekenge told reporters.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's army said in a statement that six of its officers and soldiers were on board the helicopter as part of the UN peacekeeping mission and that they all died.
"Pakistan has always played a pivotal role as responsible member of the international community to help realize ideals of global peace and security" in various peacekeeping missions, the statement added.
The Pakistan Aviation Unit has been deployed in the UN Mission Congo on peacekeeping duties since 2011.
Earlier in the day, the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo said that it had lost contact with one of its helicopters on a reconnaissance mission in eastern Congo, in the Chanzu area.
Fighting between Congolese troops with M23 rebels broke out in North Kivu province on Sunday after the rebels attacked military positions in the Tchanzu and Runyonyi regions, in Rutsuru territory.
The Congolese military accused Rwandan soldiers of backing the M23 fighters.
But Rwanda dismissed the allegations calling them "baseless" in a statement released on Tuesday.
The fighting forced about 13,000 people to flee to neighboring Uganda.
Local sources said fighting continued on Tuesday as M23 rebels tried to capture the town of Bunagana bordering Uganda.
In 2013, the M23 rebel group signed a peace agreement with the Congolese government in Kenya’s capital Nairobi
But the M23 leaders have accused the government of failing to respect the agreement as clashes continue.
The past three months have seen an alarming resumption of activities by the M23 rebels in North Kivu, leading to significant fighting with the Congolese military, according to the UN.
* Aamir Latif from Karachi, Pakistan contributed to this report.
