KINSHASA, Sept 29 (NNN-Xinhua) — Twenty-two soldiers were killed when a Ugandan military helicopter crashed Monday in the Boga region of the Ituri province, in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a source of the DRC’s army stationed in Ituri told Xinhua Wednesday.
The dead included three Congolese soldiers, said the source, who spoke under customary anonymity, without offering further details.
On Tuesday, another helicopter belonging to the Uganda army crashed at the Kabarole border area between the two countries, during joint operations between the two armies to hunt down the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a rebel group.
According to the Congolese army’s media service, the helicopter hit a cluster of power lines. A Ugandan soldier and a Congolese soldier died in the crash that happened Tuesday, confirmed Mak Hazukayi, spokesperson for the joint Congolese-Ugandan military operations.
Since last year, the armies of the DRC and Uganda have launched joint military operations in the northeastern DRC to hunt down ADF rebels. — NNN-XINHUA
