🇺🇸🇨🇩🇷🇼⚡️ — Private military contractors working for Blackwater founder Erik Prince suffered significant casualties in eastern DRC after being ambushed on September 17, Reuters reports.

The attack in South Kivu left around 20 people dead or wounded, including at least seven Congolese nationals and a former New Zealand special forces soldier among the dead.

Former U.S. Green Beret and UFC fighter Tim Kennedy was also injured, sustaining three gunshot wounds to the leg. He survived and is reportedly receiving treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center near Washington. Local civilians may also have been among the casualties.

Three sources suggested Rwandan military involvement, with one indicating that forces supporting the M23 rebel group may have tracked a surveillance drone back to the contractors' position before launching the ambush.

The ambush marks the company's first reported casualties in Congo and comes despite U.S.-brokered agreements intended to reduce fighting between Congo and Rwanda-backed armed groups.