Two South African National Defence Force members were killed and three were injured at the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier today after a mortar bomb landed on their military base. This comes less than two weeks after an SADF helicopter came under fire while evacuating a casualty from the town of Rwindi in Goma. A pilot, a medic and a commander suffered gunshot wounds.

SANDF spokesperson Sphiwe Dlamini said a mortal bomb landed inside one of the SA military bases at about 1:30 today. As a result of this indirect fire, the SANDF suffered two fatalities and three injuries. Details of this incident are still sketchy at the moment, further investigation will be conducted to determine the basis of the incident," said Dlamini.

Dlamini said they were not sure whether it was newly deployed members but they are investigating. "The military base that was hit is in the North Kivu province and those injured were taken to a hospital in the regional capital Goma," The region has seen an increase of violent attacks in the past weeks with a rebel group called the "M23" responsible for the violence, having attacked Congolese soldiers for years. The South African contingent is part of the SADC mission in the DRC where President Cyril Ramaphosa deployed 2 900 soldiers to support and assist the government of DRC in an attempt to bring peace, security and stability in the region.