KINSHASA, Sept. 1 (Reuters) - Congolese rebels have taken two aid workers hostage after an attack on a remote village in the country's restive east, a spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping force said on Monday.
The rebels attacked the tin-mining village of Walikale late in the morning on Monday, seizing five workers for U.S.-based aid group International Medical Corps, Madnodje Mounaubai, spokesman for the U.N. force, told Reuters by phone.
Three Americans among the hostages were quickly released, while a Georgian and a Congolese remained captive, he said.
A joint force of U.N. and Congolese troops set out in pursuit of the rebels, he said, adding he was not able to give the identity of the rebels.
A spokesman for IMC was not immediately available.
Congo's east is plagued with a number of armed groups who continue to operate there despite the presence of the largest U.N. peacekeeping force.
In late July, local Mai Mai militiamen took an Indian pilot hostage for five days following a raid on Walikale, in North Kivu province.
Some five million people have died in the country since the start of its 1998-2003 war. (Reporting by Bienvenu Bakumanya; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Peter Graff)
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