Congo grenade blast kills 1, injures 32 U.N. peacekeepers

GOMA, Congo -- An explosion while a group of Indian peacekeepers were exercising in eastern Congo on Tuesday morning killed a girl, injured 32 peacekeepers and sparked an angry demonstration dispersed by tear gas, U.N. officials and witnesses said.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at U.N. headquarters in New York five of the peacekeepers were hurt seriously, but none was killed.

Julien Paluku, governor of North Kivu province had said earlier one peacekeeper and an 8-year-old child were killed and three civilians were injured in the blast in the outskirts of Goma.

Dujarric said according to preliminary reports, the explosion was caused by an improvised explosive that detonated while the peacekeepers were on a morning run.

Earlier, officials said a grenade had detonated.

Dujarric said all the injured peacekeepers and civilians were receiving medical treatment in Goma.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo sent a quick-reaction force and an investigation team including explosives experts to the scene, Dujarric said.

"The staff is very busy gathering information about this incident," said Sylvestre Kilolo, a spokesman for the U.N. mission.

Various rebel groups are active in Congo's northeast, though most recent violence has occurred in the Beni region north of Goma.

Congolese security forces used tear gas to disperse angry residents who said the blast was the result of peacekeepers' carelessness. The demonstrators spoke on condition of anonymity for their safety.