Five Congolese soldiers killed fighting rebel militia

GOMA, DR Congo: Five Congolese soldiers have been killed and thirteen wounded during an army offensive on a Ugandan militia base in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, military sources said on Friday.

The operation in the Beni region of North Kivu province targeted the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia created by Muslim rebels to oppose Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni which also operates in the DRC.

"Unfortunately we recorded five dead and thirteen wounded" on Thursday, Captain Mak Hazukay and spokesman for the army in the region told AFP. The DRC military had previously given a "provisional estimate" that 10 ADF members were killed in the offensive.

Witnesses on Friday said the bodies of 14 suspected rebels were displayed on the ground next to a town hall in Beni by military and civilian authorities. "The clashes continue... the troops are doing well on the ground," General Marcel Mbangu, operations commander against Ugandan rebels in North Kivu, told AFP.

The military operation follows another flareup of violence in eastern DRC where a number of armed groups fight over the region’s rich mineral resources. On Monday, officials said 10 civilians were shot dead in the regional town of Mbau by ADF militia, some 500 metres from army position.