A young schoolgirl was killed and 31 Indian UN peacekeepers injured Tuesday in an explosion in Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the world body said.

The blast came during increasing tensions in DR Congo, where opponents of President Joseph Kabila reject an October accord that will see him stay in power until delayed elections are held in April 2018, well beyond the December 2016 end of his second term.

The explosion occurred as the peacekeepers were exercising in the Kyshero district of Goma, and witnesses reported at least one soldier with a leg blown off.

Bilamekaso Tchagbele, North Kivu Province information chief for the UN mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO), said the roughly eight-year-old schoolgirl was "regrettably" killed in the blast, which also injured another civilian as well as the peacekeepers.

The peacekeepers were taken to a UN military hospital, the spokesman said, adding: "An investigation has been opened to determine where the (device) came from".


A man presents bolts found at the site of a blast of an improvised explosive device (IED) in Goma on November 8, 2016


The UN force has more than 20,000 troops in the country protecting civilians and disarming dozens of rebel and splinter groups after two decades of conflict in the east of the country.

A wave of deadly clashes pitting police against demonstrators hit the country in late September, as the opposition demanded Kabila's resignation.

Home-made explosive device?

Several hours after Tuesday's early morning attack, blood could be seen drying on the dirt road in the Kyeshero district where the explosion occurred, AFP journalists said.

A group of children showed journalists about 10 twisted bolts as well as small metal balls, appearing to suggest the blast had been due to a home-made explosive device.

Santas Acenti Foruguta, a security guard at a nearby building site where a Catholic church is under construction, said he fled as soon as he heard the explosion.


The UN peacekeepers were struck as they were exercising,and witnesses reported at least one soldier with a leg blown off


When he returned a short time later, he said he saw Indian peacekeepers "putting injured people in sports gear into their vehicles" before going off, leaving behind the young girl who had been cut down by the explosion while on her way to school.

Local resident Ndeko Bofole said he arrived running shortly after the blast to see an Indian soldier "whose leg was amputated." "The others had injuries to arms, necks, as if knives had sliced through their bodies."

DR Congo has been going through a prolonged political crisis which deepened last month after the presidential election, which had been due before the year's end, was postponed until April 2018.

The opposition has accused Kabila, who has been in office since 2001, of manipulating the electoral system to stay in power after his second term ends on December 20.

A 2006 constitutional provision limits the presidency to two terms. The decision to delay the vote was taken in October by the government and fringe opposition groups following a "national dialogue" -- boycotted as a sham by much of the opposition -- aimed at calming such tensions.

The UN mission's troops and police personnel are drawn from over 50 countries including regional nations and was deployed in 1999.

APF