IAF's second contingent for Congo

NEW DELHI: With Congo still grappling with an ethnic civil war and fierce fighting among rival militias, India is now sending another IAF contingent with 10 attack and multi-utility helicopters to aid the UN peacekeeping operations in the central African nation. "The Army is also in the process of sending a brigade-level force to the eastern part of Congo, where the situation is tense after recent incursions by Rawandan forces.Most of the earmarked 2,850 soldiers have already reached Congo," said an officer. IAF chief Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi flagged off the 285-strong contingent for Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday. A 250-strong IAF contingent, along with the nine Mi-17 and Mi-25 choppers, has already been operating in Congo since mid-2003.