According to the army in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rebels shot down a United Nations, U.N, helicopter in the country’s east.
Reports say at least eight passengers were in the Helicopter and the number of casualties recorded cannot be ascertained as of the time of filing this report.
One of the UN peacekeeping mission’s helicopters has gone missing in the Chanzu area, which was attacked by M23 fighters on Sunday night.
Recall that News Central reported on Tuesday that hundreds of Congolese citizens have fled into Uganda following rebel attacks on their homes.
On Monday, assailants suspected to be M23 Rebels attacked a Military base near the villages of Tshanzu and Runyoni, close to the provincial capital Goma.
In a similar attack in November, M23 rebels invaded the two vital villages
The clashes took place three days after the group, which captured huge swaths of territory during an insurgency in 2012 and 2013, accused the army of battling it.
Tshanzu and Runyoni were the M23’s last strongholds before its fighters were pushed out of Uganda and Rwanda by Congolese and UN forces in 2013.
Since then, regional attempts have been made to demobilise the gang. However, its officials have expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace at which a peace agreement is being implemented.
The M23 rebel group has however denied shooting down the UN helicopter.
The group accused the Congolese army of downing the helicopter while attacking their positions. The Congolese had on Tuesday blamed the rebels for the crash.
“That plane was hit by FARDC shooting.” Major Willy Ngoma, the M23 spokesperson, told reporters.
