United Nations peacekeeper killed in eastern Congo

KINSHASA, Congo – The spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo confirmed that a U.N. peacekeeper was killed in South Kivu province, located in the troubled east of the country.

Felix Prosper Basse told reporters during a press conference Wednesday that the Pakistani peacekeeper was killed Tuesday by unidentified assailants, who were armed. No further details were immediately available.

Over 17,000 peacekeepers are deployed in Congo, especially in its volatile east, where numerous armed groups as well as units within the regular army vie for control of lucrative mines and trade routes. Last December, the newly former M23 rebel group overran the provincial capital of Goma, before international pressure succeeded in convincing them to withdraw from the city.