Congo ? Ugandan rebels ambushed U.N. peacekeepers in Congo on Monday, killing eight of them in a gunbattle that also left 15 attackers dead near the Sudanese border, U.N. officials said.

The Guatemalan peacekeepers were looking for Lord’s Resistance Army rebels from Uganda who were believed to be in Garamba National Park, in Congo’s remote northeast, U.N. spokesman Kemal Saiki said.

The incident was the second largest loss of life suffered by the 16,000-strong peacekeeping mission since it began in 1999. Nine Bangladeshi troops were killed in February 2005 by ethnic militiamen.

Between 50 and 60 armed Ugandan rebels launched Monday’s attack, which began at dawn and lasted about four hours until a helicopter-borne Nepalese contingent arrived in support, said Hans-Jakob Reichen, a U.N. military spokesman.

U.N. troops killed 15 of the attackers, Reichen said.