UN peacekeepers killed four Congolese rebel soldiers yesterday as they drove the fighters out of a town that had been overrun during the dissident's four-day offensive, which has forced 50,000 people from their homes, said UN officials. Troops loyal to Laurent Nkunda, a renegade former army commander who rejected a peace process designed to end the Democratic Republic of Congo's five-year war, began an offensive in the east of the country on Thursday and have briefly occupied a number of towns and villages in cat-and-mouse fighting with the army. Yesterday, the fighters attacked 80 Indian UN peacekeepers who were heading to the town of Rwindi, near the border with Rwanda, after government troops were overrun there on Saturday. "Four insurgents were killed and three others were captured during the fighting today. They will be questioned so we will know more later," said Lieutenant Colonel Mayank Awasthi, a UN military spokesman for the North Kivu brigade. UN peacekeepers were left in control of Rwindi after the battle with about 40 fighters, who used mortars and automatic weapons. Col Awasthi said there were no injuries on the UN side.
