NEW DELHI, March 5: Indian and Pakistani soldiers of the UN contingent in Congo came together in exemplary solidarity earlier this month to hunt militants who had killed their Bangladeshi colleagues, it was reported on Saturday.

There were fears though that the soldiers may have violated regulations linked with human rights norms in such deployments as they are believed to have given a "robust response" to the alleged militants.

"After nine Bangladeshi soldiers on a peace-keeping mission in restive Congo were surrounded and killed by rebels last week, their colleagues in the United Nations decided to come up with a robust response," The Indian Express reported from the United Nations headquarters in New York.

"These colleagues happened to be soldiers from India and Pakistan. What followed was a classic operation in which an Indian helicopter supported Pakistani ground troops and ended up killing at least 50 militiamen in Congo's troubled Ituri region."

According to the report the operation has been praised and defended by UN officials. Margaret Carey, an officer in the Africa division of the UN peacekeeping department, said that the Indians and Pakistanis acted in self-defence and were protecting civilians. "And, in what must now rank as a rare example of South Asian cooperation, the soldiers from the two countries also protected each other after their colleagues from Bangladesh had been killed a few days earlier.

It seems that Pakistani soldiers received information about Loga village in the volatile Ituri province, that it was being used as a weapons centre. The peacekeepers decided to conduct a "cordon and search" mission.

This proved harder than planned. The area is a hotbed of militant activity and within no time the Pakistanis found themselves under fire from some hills overlooking the area. They asked for air support.

This came in the form of an Indian attack helicopter, which zeroed in on the Congo militia positions and protected the Pakistani peacekeepers.

Some 50 militiamen died in the battle that followed. There have not been any reports of civilian casualties so far.

Ms Carey said that the peacekeepers did not engage in war and their basic mission was to bring about peace. She also rejected suggestions that the operation was conducted by the Indians and Pakistanis to avenge the killing of nine Bangladeshi peacekeepers by the militia last week.