BLANTYRE (Reuters) - Four Malawian soldiers, part of the United Nations peace keeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have died after coming under attack by rebels, the Malawi Defence Forces (MDF) said on Thursday.

The soldiers were killed in Congo’s mineral-rich east, where rival militia groups control parts of the region more than a decade after the official end of a 1998-2003 war.

“There was combat but now the situation has calmed down,” MDF spokesman Paul Chiphwanya said, adding the soldiers were attacked by “illegal armed forces”.

“We are now waiting for the U.N. to finalize procedures for (the) repatriation of the bodies.”

The deaths bring to five the total number of Malawian soldiers killed in Congo since 2017, deployed as part the U.N. mission.