JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
Two South African soldiers were killed and three were wounded during a mortar strike in DR Congo, the South African military said, adding that the details were "still sketchy."
South Africa's mission to help bring peace
and security to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has gotten off to a
deadly start.
The South African National
Defence Force (SANDF) on Thursday said that two of its soldiers had been killed
in a mortar strike near the eastern city of Goma.
The SANDF said that three more
soldiers were injured in the attack, which took place on Wednesday.
"A mortar landed inside
one of the South African contingent military bases inflicting casualties and
injuries to the SANDF soldiers," the South African military said in a
statement.
The injured were taken to the
closest hospital in Goma, the SANDF said.
The SANDF said that details
surrounding the attack "are still sketchy" and that further
investigation would take place to determine what happened.
The deaths are the first fatalities to take place within the Southern African Development Community Mission in the DRC (SMIDRC). South Africa had deployed 2,900 South African forces to assist Kinshasa to bring peace, stability and security to the region.
DRC has been struggling to
contain armed militias. The mainly-Tutsi M23 rebel
group has managed to capture large parts of North
Kivu since reemerging in 2022, causing hundreds of thousands of
people to flee.
Fighting has intensified in
recent days around the strategic town of Sake, which lies about 20 kilometers
(12 miles) from Goma.
Earlier in the week, South
Africa's official political opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA)
accused President Cyril Ramaphosa of being
"reckless" for ordering the deployment of South African forces. The
DA said South African forces lacked enough air support and would be
"sitting ducks" against the M23 rebels.
Similar criticism was leveled
against former President Jacob Zuma's administration for the deployment of
forces to the Central African Republic in 2013.
The so-called "Battle of
Bangui," saw around 200 South African soldiers involved in a pitched
battle against Seleka rebels numbering in the thousands.
The South African contingent
had no air support, limited ammunition and had to fight off a vastly bigger
attacking force for hours.
Fifteen South African
paratroopers and special forces soldiers were killed, while hundreds of Seleka
rebels were killed and wounded.
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