World Bulletin / News Desk

Two experts from the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been kidnapped in the violence-wracked central Kasai region, UN and Congolese sources said Monday.

The two have been missing since Sunday, according to Charles-Antoine Bambara, the spokesman for the MONUSCO peacekeeping mission.

One of the victims is a US national, the other a Swede, Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende told AFP.

"They were kidnapped at a bridge over the Moyo river and taken to the forest by unknown assailants," Mende said.

Four Congolese nationals -- three motorcycle-taxi drivers and an interpreter -- were also taken hostage, he added.

The Congolese and UN officials said efforts to locate the victims were under way.

A Uruguayan peacekeeper was shot and injured last week in the same region, which has been wracked by a rebellion since September.

The uprising erupted after government forces in August killed a tribal chief and militia leader, Kamwina Nsapu, who had rebelled against President Joseph Kabila.

The violence has since spilled over to the neighbouring provinces of Kasai-Oriental and Lomami, leaving at least 400 people dead.

About 100 of those troops were recently dispatched to the Kasai region. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday asked the Security Council to send an extra 320 UN police to the country after a deal to end a dispute over the presidential election stalled.