Suspected militiamen attacked camp in Djugu territory, in Ituri province, killing civilians ‘with edged weapons’, monitor says.
Suspected militiamen have attacked a camp for internally displaced persons in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), killing dozens of people, according to local sources and a monitoring group.
The overnight assault took place late in the DRC’s restive Ituri province, which has been placed under a state of siege since May 2021, an exceptional measure taken by the government to combat armed groups roaming the country’s mineral-rich east.
“At least 40 civilians were killed with edged weapons last night in Plaine Savo” in Djugu territory, the Kivu Security Tracker (KST), which monitors violence in the region, said on Twitter on Wednesday.
The head of a local humanitarian group and a witness put the toll at at least 60, according to Reuters news agency.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but KST said fighters from the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo armed group, known as CODECO, were suspected of being behind the raid.
Aljazeera
