Hundreds of UN peacekeepers patrolled Congo's eastern border town of Bukavu on Friday to quell fighting between rival army factions as refugees fled into neighboring Rwanda.
A UN attack helicopter fired a rocket at a position in town where the civilian population was being threatened by gunfire, said Sebastien Lapierre, a UN spokesman in Bukavu.
Escaping residents, some with gunshot wounds, sought shelter near the Rwandan town of Cyangugu, which faces Bukavu across the border on the southern tip of Lake Kivu.
Clashes erupted in Bukavu late on Wednesday as troops loyal to the Kinshasa government battled ex-rebel fighters, now part of a new national army created after a political deal forged last year to end Congo's sprawling five-year conflict.
UN and army officials said that at least seven civilians and five government soldiers were killed and dozens more wounded in the violence. They said fighting and looting by armed men had calmed by late afternoon on Friday.
"It is calmer this afternoon now that the UN has deployed between the two forces," said Jean-Pierre Mazambi, interim governor of South Kivu province.
Regional analysts said the fresh violence in eastern Congo showed the lack of central authority in Africa's third-biggest country and threatened to plunge the region back into war.
"Things are slowly returning to normal, but we can't be overly optimistic because the situation is still too volatile," said Hamadoun Toure, the UN spokesman in Kinshasa.
Last year's peace deal provided for a single national army incorporating former foes from various factions, but some ex-rebel soldiers are reluctant to join the new force.
"We are ready if [the rebels] attack us again. We are in the process of securing the town and the population," said army officer Muka Mialay-Muamba from Bukavu.
"I can confirm we have five or six dead and 19 injured," he said.
UN officials said they counted seven civilians killed in Bukavu and at least six wounded, and expected the casualties to rise once hospitals provided more accurate information.
Congolese President Joseph Kabila on Friday said those responsible for the violence would be punished. He called on the Congolese people not to let renegades slow the peace process.
Rwandan officials said hundreds of people were on the move.
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