Mortar fire kills three Tanzanian soldiers in DR Congo

KINSHASA - Mortar fire in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has killed three Tanzanian soldiers who were part of a Southern Africa force deployed to help government troops battling M23 rebels, officials said.

The regional force sent soldiers to North Kivu province in December to help Kinshasa regain ground from the M23 militia in the lawless east.

The force includes soldiers from regional military heavyweight South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi.

"This unfortunate incident happened after a hostile mortar round had fallen near the camp (where) they were staying," the 10-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) said in a statement.

It gave no further details about the incident.

A source at the North Kivu governorate said the mortar attack struck last Thursday and a ceremony to honour the dead was held at SADC headquarters in the provincial capital Goma on Monday.

A soldier from South Africa has also died in hospital while being treated for health problems, the SADC statement said.

After several years of dormancy, the mostly-Tutsi M23 (March 23 Movement) group took up arms again in late 2021 and has seized vast swathes of North Kivu province.

The region has been wracked by violence in the decades since regional wars in the 1990s.