UN peacekeepers pressed an offensive against local militia groups Wednesday in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said General Jean-Francois Collot d'Escury, chief of staff of the UN mission in the country.

The operations were being carried out in the Ituri region, where almost 250 Pakistani and South African troops on Tuesday killed at least 50 militiamen and destroyed two of their camps.

Collot d'Escury told a press conference in Kinshasa that the slaying was a "proportionate" UN reaction to the killing of nine UN peacekeepers last Friday.

"The militiamen have no choice but to disarm... If these armed groups continue to attack us, we will respond," Collot d'Escury said.

Last week, 21 Bangladeshi soldiers of the UN peacekeeping force on patrol were ambushed by unidentified gunmen in the Ituri region, leaving nine dead and 11 others wounded.

That was the worst single loss suffered by the peacekeeping force in the country since it was deployed in 1999. Ituri is one of the country's worst troubled spots where conflicts among local ethnic militias have killed about 50,000 people and left more than 500,000 homeless since 1998.

The UN mission has accused militia leaders of war crimes and crimes against humanity as they use civilians as human shields, Collot d'Escury said.

"Investigations have begun to establish the blame and toll of these crimes," Collot d'Escury said, warning that the UN mission would use force against any militias resisting disarmament in Ituri.

UN Security Council on Wednesday threw its backing behind the military actions against Congolese militia groups believed to be responsible for the killings of UN peacekeepers.

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2005)