Four people protesting against a United Nations peacekeeping mission were killed on Wednesday in the Congolese city of Uvira when troops fired warning shots that hit an electric cable that fell on them, officials said.

Three UN peacekeepers and at least 12 civilians were killed on Tuesday in protests against the mission in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, known as MONUSCO, which protesters accuse of failing to protect them from militia violence.

The protests had mostly fizzled out on Wednesday in the cities of Goma and Butembo but had spread to Uvira, in South Kivu province, where crowds threw rocks at a MONUSCO compound.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday strongly condemned violence targeting the United Nations in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that killed peacekeepers, a UN spokesperson stated.

(With input from Reuters)