RAWALPINDI: Eight United Nations peacekeepers, including six Pakistani soldiers, were killed when a helicopter crashed on a reconnaissance mission in Demorcratic Republic of Congo.
A Pakistani aviation unit is deployed in the UN Mission Congo on peacekeeping duties since 2011. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), on March 29, a PUMA helicopter crashed while undertaking a reconnaissance mission in Congo.
“Eight UN peacekeepers on board, including six Pakistanis officers and soldiers, have embraced martyrdom,” said the ISPR. The exact cause of the crash is yet to be determined, it added.
The martyred soldiers were identified as Lt Col Asif Ali Awan, who was the pilot, Major Saad Nomani, who was the co-pilot, Major Faizan Ali, flight engineer Sami Ullah Khan, Havaldar Muhammad Ismail, who was the crew chief, and Lance Havaldar Muhamad Jamil, who was the gunner.
“Pakistan has always played a pivotal role as a responsible member of the international community to help realise ideals of global peace and security through active sp in various UN Peacekeeping missions,” said the ISPR.
It added that Pakistani “peacekeepers have always distinguished themselves in executing challenging peacekeeping tasks in conflict-prone areas through devotion and, if necessary, rendering supreme sacrifices”.
Earlier, the United Nation’s peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo said it had lost contact with a helicopter on Tuesday flying over an area in the east of the country where fighting has broken out between M23 rebels and the army.
UN chopper shot down by rebels
Meanwhile, the Congolese army said a helicopter belonging to the UN peacekeeping mission in Democratic Republic of Congo was shot down by M23 rebel fighters in eastern Congo on Tuesday with eight people on board.
The UN mission, known as MONUSCO, said earlier in the day that it had lost contact with the chopper near Tshanzu, where rebels are staging an offensive. The M23 group, which was driven out of Congo after an insurgency in 2012 and 2013, attacked two army positions near the border with Uganda and Rwanda on Sunday night and fighting continued into Tuesday.
In a statement, the Congolese army said the helicopter was shot down in an area controlled by the rebels while on a mission to track civilian population movements. It said the eight on board included MONUSCO crew members and UN observers.
The rebels had moved into the city of Kabindi on Tuesday and were nearing the area’s local administrative seat, the town of Rutshuru, according to a civil society coordinator. Neighbouring Rwanda denied involvement in the violence after Congo said it had captured two Rwandan soldiers backing the M23. When M23 fighters were driven out of Congo in 2013 they fled into Rwanda and Uganda. UN investigators have previously accused Rwanda and Uganda of supporting the group.
