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Reports: 63 civilians killed with “edged weapons” in DR Congo
A watch group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported suspected militiamen have killed dozens at a camp for internally displaced persons.
A watch group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported suspected militiamen have killed dozens at a camp for internally displaced persons.
The assault took place overnight in the DRC’s eastern Ituri province. This region has seen prolonged violence since May 2021. The mineral-rich area has been the focus of government efforts to drive out several roaming armed faction.
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Charite Banza Bavi, president of a local humanitarian group, estimated the death toll to be 63. The U.N. migration agency surveyed the camp in December, and reported it was home to over 4000 people at that time.
These gruesome events draw eerie parallels to a raid that took place in May, 2020. Then, over 40 civilians were killed with machetes while bandits looted resources from a village in the mountainous northern region of the country.
No group claimed immediate responsibility for the attack, but Al Jazeera reported fighters from the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo armed group, known as CODECO, may be the culprits.
This comes as Reuters confirmed 26 people died as a result of a power cable snapping near the DRC’s capital city of Kinshasa. The live wire fell into a large puddle where shoppers were walking through, resulting in mass casualties.
