BUNIA: Militants attacked a camp for displaced people in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 41 people, a local official said on Monday.
In Djugu territory, a local administration official Richard Dheda told AFP that Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO) militiamen stormed the camp in Ituri province in the early hours of Monday.
The CODECO claims to protect the Lendu community from DR Congo army and another ethnic group Hema.
Desire Malodra, civil society representative, that they started to fire shots, many persons were burned to death in their homes, while others were killed by machete.
The Lala camp for displaced people is 5 kilometres (3 miles) from Bule, the site of a United Nations peacekeeper base.
Ituri province is one of the hotspots in eastern DR Congo’s violence, where attacks killing dozens of people are common.
Militants’ another attack
CODECO militiamen stormed an army position in the Djukoth area of Mahagi territory late on Saturday, killing 7 civilians.
After a decade of peace, the conflict between the Lendu and Hema communities rekindled in 2017, resulting in thousands of killings and forcing over 1.5 million people from their homes.
Much of the eastern part of the country is plagued by dozens of armed outfits, a legacy of regional wars that started in the 1990s and 2000s.
