Rebels Chase Congo Troops, as Fighting Kills U.N. Peacekeeper NAIROBI, Kenya - Hundreds of soldiers from the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo fled across the border into Uganda on Friday, in an embarrassing retreat from rebel forces. A United Nations peacekeeper was killed in the fighting, the latest instability to hit the war-wracked eastern Congo. Ugandan troops immediately stripped the approximately 600 Congolese soldiers of their guns and ammunition and the Ugandan government was trying to figure out what to do with them. "They have been disarmed, and they are with us," said Capt. Peter Mugisa of the Ugandan Army. We will see how to handle that matter. The unusual cross-border retreat was a blow to Congo's troops, who have been bested several times in the past few weeks by a new rebel group called the March 23 Movement or M23. United Nations investigators and others have accused neighboring Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels, but Rwanda has vehemently denied this. Some diplomats in Nairobi said the connections were murky, and though Rwanda has supported Congolese rebels before, the evidence this time may not be so clear-cut. The M23 group emerged this spring when Congo's government decided to act on a longstanding arrest warrant for Gen. Bosco Ntaganda, a former rebel leader who had briefly been part of the Congolese Army and who stands accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court. The prospect of arrest set off a mutiny by General Ntaganda's followers within the army, and since then, the M23 has seized a string of small towns. On Thursday and Friday, Congo's Army clashed with the rebels around the town of Bunagana, on the Congo-Uganda border. By dawn on Friday, the rebels won and the soldiers from Congo retreated into Uganda along with several thousand refugees. During the exchange of fire, one Indian peacekeeper working for the United Nations in Bunagana was killed. Analysts say the M23 is not especially interested in trying to overthrow Congo's government, but want to carve out a sphere of influence in eastern Congo, which is teeming with minerals, and use their territorial gains as bargaining chips. Similar rebellions have plagued eastern Congo for more than a decade. The American military has been working more closely with some Congo Army units in recent years trying to make them more professional and battle-tough, but the latest episode is a sign of the lack of training within the ranks. On Friday, two Congolese Army spokesmen declined to discuss recent events. One of them said that he was under strict orders not to speak to foreign journalists. Jeffrey Gettleman reported from Nairobi, Kenya, and Josh Kron reported from Kampala, Uganda