Ceremony marks single biggest loss of life of Irish soldiers abroad

The scene at the bridge shortly before the first bodies were recovered after the Niemba ambush in Congo, 1960.

The Defence Forces held a wreath-laying ceremony earlier today on the 60th commemoration of the single biggest loss of life of Irish soldiers serving overseas.

Nine members of an Irish peace-keeping patrol were killed in the Niemba Ambush in the Belgian Congo on November 8, 1960, after being targeted by a large number of local tribesmen.