UNITED NATIONS, June 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The United Nations has started a full investigation into the deaths of two UN peacekeepers in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) andpulled some 50 UN staffers out of the western African nation in face of fighting and anti-UN riots, UN officials said on Tuesday.

    UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters that the UN observer mission in the DRC (MONUC) is carrying out a full probe into Sunday's deadly incident, in which at least 11 other peacekeepers were injured.

    The secretary-general "is deeply saddened" by the deaths of the two peacekeepers, who were killed near Rutshuru, a town in eastern DRC, when their convoy came under fire, he said.

    UN officials confirmed that some 50 "non-essential" UN civilianstaffers were evacuated to neighboring Uganda from the DRC, where anti-UN riots have raged over the past few days.

    Riots erupted in the DRC capital of Kinshasa and other major cities early last week after thousands of Congolese took to the streets in protest against the failure of MONUC to prevent renegade soldiers from taking Bukavu, a key town in eastern DRC.

    MONUC was deployed in the DRC in December 1999 to monitor a truce between the government and the rebels and help them implement a comprehensive peace agreement. Currently, it has about 11,000 military personnel, civilian police and civilian staff. Enditem