NAIROBI -- Two United Nations military observers missing for nearly a week in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo were found "savagely" killed, a UN spokesman said Monday.

The peacekeepers -- a Jordanian and a Nigerian whose names were not immediately released -- were last heard from last Tuesday when warring ethnic militia were battling for control of the northeastern province of Ituri.

Their bodies were found in the town of Mongbwalu, 70 kilometers north of the provincial headquarters of Bunia, said a statement from the UN Military Observer Mission in Congo (MONUC).

"The first indications make you think that the observers were savagely killed," said the statement.

Human rights groups said at least 100 people were killed in Bunia and surrounding areas during a week of battles in and around Bunia between ethnic Hema and Lendu militias.

Thousands of civilians fled their homes, taking shelter in the jungle or the UN compound and airport in Bunia.

A cease-fire agreement between the militia was signed in Tanzania on Friday and largely held over the weekend, DPA reported.

The fighting erupted earlier this month after some 6,000 Ugandan troops withdrew from Ituri as part of a peace deal to end a complex multination war in Congo. Observers had predicted that violence would erupt between the Hema and Lendu, but the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo does not have a mandate to intervene in the conflict.

The UN said French troops were on the way to northeastern Congo on Monday as part of a new international stabilization force.