Amid escalating violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a UN peacekeeper and two police personnel were killed and a third was injured, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
There were unconfirmed reports of civilian casualties during anti-United Nations demonstrations in easternmost North Kivu province.
Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said that "violent attackers snatched weapons from Congolese police and fired upon our uniformed personnel. Sadly, one military peacekeeper and two UN police personnel were killed, and another was injured."
Haq said the attack occurred at the Butembo base of the UN mission in the DRC, known as MONUSCO. The only identity among the casualties was that of the slain peacekeeper from India.
The spokesman said that "we add our voice to the acting head of MONUSCO, Khassim Diagne, to condemn the killing of our colleagues and to express our deepest sympathy to their families and colleagues."