Fighters kill up to 150 in attacks in northeast Congo

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Thousands of tribal fighters attacked three villages in volatile northeastern Congo with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles, killing as many as 150 people, a commander of a rival group said Tuesday.

Some 3,000 men, mostly from the Lendu tribe, staged early morning raids on Drodro, Largu and Blukwa on Friday to loot and kill, Saba Rafiki, security chief for a militia from the Hema tribe, said by telephone from Bunia, the provincial capital.

It was not possible to independently verify the report. Unarmed U.N. observers withdrew from all areas of Ituri province except the town of Bunia after two observers were abducted, tortured and killed in May.

Hema and Lendu fighters have been battling since 1999 for control of towns, villages and resources in Ituri. Aid groups estimate more than 50,000 people have been killed in the region since then.

On Monday, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to raise the limit on the number of U.N. peacekeeping troops in Congo to 10,800 and give the force a more robust mandate so it can attempt to stop violence in Ituri as well as neighboring North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.

There are 6,000 U.N. soldiers in Congo, including 800 unarmed military observers, and until now they have been permitted only to shoot in self-defense.

The Security Council authorized peacekeepers to use force to protect civilians and aid workers "under imminent threat of physical violence" and to help improve security conditions to facilitate humanitarian aid.

There are just 750 U.N. soldiers in Ituri, all of them in Bunia. A separate French-led emergency force arrived in Bunia on June 6 to support the U.N. troops after tribal fighting had killed more than 500 people in the town. But its mandate is restricted to Bunia, and those troops are to leave by Sept. 1.

A U.N. contingent of some 1,500 Bangladeshi soldiers is to arrive in the town by the time the French force leaves. Additional reinforcements from Pakistan, India, Indonesia and Nepal later this year is to boost the U.N. force in Ituri to around 4,000 soldiers.