UN force admits deadly shooting at DR Congo border post

UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was "outraged" after two people were killed and several others injured when UN peacekeepers opened fire during an incident in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on the Uganda border on Sunday.

The UN force MONUSCO admitted that some of its peacekeepers had opened fire "for unexplained reasons", adding that arrests had already been made.

Guterres was "saddened and dismayed" to learn of the shooting, a UN statement said.

"The Secretary-General stresses in the strongest terms the need to establish accountability for these events.

"He welcomes the decision of his special representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to detain the MONUSCO personnel involved in the incident and to immediately open an investigation," it added.

Video of the incident, shared on social media showed men, at least one in police uniform and another in army uniform, advancing towards the immobilised UN convoy behind a closed barrier in Kasindi.

The town is in eastern DR Congo's Beni territory on the border with Uganda.

After a verbal exchange, the peacekeepers appeared to open fire before opening the barrier and driving through while people scattered or hid.

"During this incident, soldiers from the intervention brigade of the MONUSCO force returning from leave opened fire at the border post for unexplained reasons and forced their way through," the UN mission in Kasindi said in a statement earlier.