The South African military announced that two of its troops on a mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo were killed, and three others wounded after a bomb detonated inside one of the military bases near the eastern city of Goma on Wednesday.
The army stated on Thursday, stating that the force was recording its first casualties since it began to deploy 2,900 soldiers to intervene in the DR Congo insurgency.
“A mortar bomb landed inside one of the South African contingent military bases inflicting casualties and injuries to the SANDF soldiers.”
“As a result of this indirect fire, the SANDF suffered two fatalities and three members sustained injuries,” the National Defence Force said in a statement.
The statement disclosed that the injured soldiers were rushed to the nearest hospital in Goma. Goma is the capital of the troubled North Kivu province.
The South African soldiers were deployed as part of a Southern African regional force, which also included soldiers from Malawi and Tanzania.
Their mission was to assist the DRC government forces in combating M23 rebel groups whose actions have killed a large number of people, and left scores of others displaced.
