KINSHASA, June 27 (Reuters) - Around 200 United Nations peacekeepers backed by a helicopter gunship hunted down militia fighters in northeastern Congo on Monday, officials from the world body said.
Long accused of failing in its mandate to protect civilians from militia attacks, the United Nations has stepped up military operations in the lawless Ituri district, particularly since gunmen killed nine Bangladeshi peacekeepers in late February.
"We've launched an operation in Medu. We knew there were some militia there and we sent in 200 peacekeepers to conduct a cordon and search operation," U.N. military spokesman Thierry Provendier said.
"We are engaged with them but we have no further information," he told Reuters.
A United Nations military source said 40 rockets had been fired from an Mi-25 attack helicopter during the start of the operation in Medu, which is about 25 km (16 miles) south of Bunia, capital of the Ituri district.
More than 60,000 people have died in Ituri since 1999 in ethnic clashes and fighting over gold and border revenues.
Fighters from myriad armed groups still terrorise civilians although the United Nations says more than 15,000 gunmen have joined a U.N. disarmament process.
The U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo is the biggest in the world with 16,700 troops spread thinly across the vast nation.
In the past few months, hundreds of soldiers, backed by armoured vehicles and helicopter gunships, have been dismantling militia camps, seizing weapons and arresting fighters.
U.N. peacekeepers fought a 4-hour battle with militiamen on June 2, firing thousands of rounds and having to call in helicopters to fire 70 rockets. One peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded during the operation.
Congo's wider five-year war, which sucked in six neighbouring countries and killed nearly 4 million people -- mostly from hunger and disease -- came to an end in 2003 but fighting in Ituri has continued.
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