[Iran Press TV] UN helicopters have attacked rebel positions in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo or
Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. It's principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
for the second time this month, officials say.
Mamodj Munubai, a front man for MONUSCO, the UN mission in DR Congo, said that the attack was launched on Tuesday in response to a rebel offensive against the civilian population.
There have been no reports so far on the number of casualties.
The UN forces carried out the helizap after festivities broke out between M23 rebels and government troops north of the regional capital Goma.
The fighting began when rebels attacked army positions around Rugari and Kimumba, north of Goma, Major Olivier Hamuli, the army front man for Nord Kivu province, said.
He added that about 2,000 residents were forced to flee the region.
UN helicopters were deployed on July 12 to stop a rebel advance on Goma after rebels seized a number of towns on the Congo's border with Uganda.
The rebels, known as the March 23 movement, defected from the Congolese army in April in protest over alleged mistreatment in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC). They had previously been integrated into the Congolese army under a peace deal signed in 2009.