KINSHASA - At least 15 people, including three U.N. peacekeepers, have been killed and 60 others injured in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in an escalation of days long protests against the United Nations in a mineral-rich region that has been ravaged by incessant deadly violence.
Protesters have been demanding the departure of the peacekeeping forces, accusing them of failing to protect civilians from a recent surge of attacks by the militant groups that have terrorized the region for years — leaving hundreds dead or injured and forcing more than 160,000 people to flee their homes this year alone.
Several government officials and a youth group allied with the ruling party have in recent weeks stoked anger at the U.N. forces.
On Tuesday, two Indian police officers and one member of Morocco’s military were killed, and an Egyptian police officer was injured, when protesters breached the United Nations compound in Butembo, a city in the province of North Kivu, Farhan Haq, a deputy U.N. spokesman, said at a briefing in New York on Tuesday.
