Ugandan Islamist Rebels over the weekend engaged in a fierce fighting with Democratic Republic of Congo army on Tuesday with 16 Islamist rebels losing their lives .
Two of the DRC’s soldiers were also killed in the battle that was part of a campaign to drive the militants from the country’s volatile eastern region.
Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) are accused of massacring some 300 villagers near the town of Beni in North Kivu province between October and December.
The fighting took place in Kokola, about 25 miles north of Beni, according to an army spokesman for the operation.
Meanwhile, the Ugandan Islamist Rebels ambushed a United Nations convoy and killed two Tanzanian peacekeepers.
See also: Rebels Attack United Nations Convoy in DRC, Kill 2 Peacekeepers
The rebels had also a day earlier forced down a United Nations helicopter that was carrying the mission’s commander but the helicopter however landed safely.
The ADF was formed in the 1990s to fight the Ugandan government but it has transformed into a secretive Islamist group of Ugandan Islamist Rebels who now operates on the Congolese side of the border, where it is active in the illicit trade in timber and gold.
