Dozens wounded in DR Congo hospital attack FIFTY-SEVEN people were killed or wounded when a mortar shell slammed into a hospital in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the site of recent unrest, the United Nations say. "On February 27 the Saint Benoit Hospital was reportedly hit by a mortar shell, resulting in up to 57 casualties, including patients and staff," UN deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said, citing UN peacekeepers in the area. He did not specify whether the 57 were killed or wounded, adding: "The UN mission is in the process of confirming the number and status of the victims." He said peacekeepers from MONUSCO - the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DR Congo - were helping to evacuate the wounded and carrying out military helicopter overflights. Battles between the army and a rebel militia in eastern DR Congo have left at least 36 people dead and thousands have sought refuge at a UN base, a spokesman said on Thursday. One peacekeeper was also wounded. Between 3000 and 4000 people are at the peacekeeping base at Kitchanga in North Kivu province, in an early test for a UN-brokered peace accord aimed at ending two decades of war and strife in the mineral-rich region. Clashes between the DR Congo army and the Alliance of Patriots for a Free and Sovereign Congo, better known under its French acronym, APCLS, erupted in the region on Wednesday. The APCLS is a longstanding militia in the region which made its name battling the late dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, in the 1990s, when wars in DR Congo and neighbouring countries left millions dead. The unrest comes after a UN-brokered peace deal signed on Sunday by 11 African nations, including DR Congo. DR Congo's President Joseph Kabila vowed to step up efforts to extend government control to the lawless eastern part of the country, while the other nations promised not to interfere in the affairs of their neighbours.