At least 50 militiamen were killed during fighting between Pakistani UN troops and elements suspected to have killed nine UN peacekeepers on 25 February, Gen Jean-Francois Collot d'Escuries, the chief of staff of the UN peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo, known as MONUC, told IRIN.

Several leaders of the militia group that is accused of having executed nine Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers on Friday in Kafe village, in the Democratic Republic of Congo's northeastern Ituri District, have been arrested, Justice Minister Kisimba Ngoy told IRIN on Wednesday.

The first brigade of the integrated Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) began military operations on Monday, cracking down on armed groups in the northeastern district of Ituri, Defence Minister Adolphe Onusumba told IRIN.

Several NGOs operating in Ituri, in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) Orientale Province, have suspended aid to thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) following Friday's killing of nine UN peacekeepers, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Monday.

Unidentified gunmen shot and wounded several UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo in an ambush on Friday in the village of Kafe, in the northeastern district of Ituri.

Another disarmament transit centre has opened in Bunia, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where at least 3,300 ex-combatants have been disarmed, demobilised and prepared for reintegration into the national army, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) plans to deploy a police brigade in the northeastern district of Ituri to protect civilians from militias, Interior Minister Théophile Mbemba told IRIN on Monday.

Relief aid agencies say they are struggling to provide basic needs to tens of thousands of civilians in Ituri District, in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who have fled their homes because of recent fighting.

Six Moroccan soldiers serving on the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), known as MONUC, have been arrested in an ongoing sex abuse scandal, the official Moroccan news agency, the Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP), reported on Monday.

Congolese and Rwandan military officers have activated a joint verification mechanism for the common border between the two countries, an administrator in Congo's eastern province of South Kivu said.