UN says lost contact with six Congo peacekeepers

KINSHASA, May 28 (Reuters) The United Nations mission in Congo said today it had lost contact with six Nepalese UN peacekeepers involved in an operation against militia fighters in the east of the central African country.

The soldiers were part of a UN ''cordon and search'' mission aimed at flushing out rebels from Democratic Republic of Congo's lawless Ituri district when contact was lost, said Kemal Saiki, spokesman for the UN force in the former Belgian colony.

''We have lost contact with them and we don't know what happened to them. Six peacekeepers were in a difficult situation. They were surrounded but we have sent in reinforcements,'' he said, adding UN helicopter gunships had been sent to the area.

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