United Nations sources have given conflicting accounts of the possible torture of eight Guatemalan soldiers who died in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last month, reports from Guatemala said on Thursday.

According to a UN diplomat speaking by telephone from New York on condition of anonymity, the soldiers hands had been tied, their bodies showed signs of abuse and one body was badly disfigured.

However, UN spokesman Ari Gaitanis, also speaking from New York, said the UN had not seen any evidence of torture or mutilation.

The eight Guatemalan soldiers, members of the UN's peacekeeping mission in the DRC were ambushed by men of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group. Their bodies were returned to Guatemala last week, where they were welcomed home with full honors and given a military funeral without autopsies being performed.

At the end of January, the UN sent the Guatemalan government a preliminary report on the battle between the LRA and a mission by several dozen Guatemalan soldiers. The UN plans to release its full report on Feb. 17.

Guatemalan Foreign Minister Jorge Briz demanded a report last week from the UN to clarify questions raised by an article in French newspaper Le Monde about the incident, in which five other soldiers were injured; although some reports said 14 soldiers were hurt.

The French newspaper said the soldiers were killed in an operation led by British security services to capture the LRA's leader.

Source: Xinhua