Eight UN peacekeepers killed in ambush in eastern Congo

Eight UN peacekeepers have been killed and 14 others injured during an ambush on their unit in eastern Congo today.

A spokesman said the attack happened in Garamba National Park, near Congo's borders with Sudan and Uganda in the restive Ituri region.

The dead and injured soldiers are all believed to be Guatemalan.

Around 15,000 UN peacekeepers are based in eastern Congo, where clashes between rival ethnic groups have claimed more than 50,000 lives since 1999.

The conflict is a spin-off from Congo's larger civil war between 1998 and 2002.