Amid ongoing insecurity in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), gunmen affiliated with a militia group in Ituri have killed at least 69 people.
Agence France-Presse (AFP), reported on Saturday, May 9, that the attack was carried out at the end of April by fighters linked to the CODECO militia.
Security sources said that insecurity in the area delayed the transfer and collection of victims’ bodies for several days.
According to the report, security sources confirmed the death toll at 69. However, Dieudonne Losa, a local civil protection official, said that more than 70 people were killed in the attack.
The United Nations mission in the DRC has also warned that a “deadly” wave of attacks in the country’s east is targeting civilians.
The mission said that in recent days dozens of civilians have been killed in the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu.
Eastern DRC has witnessed persistent conflict over the past three decades involving various armed groups, militias, and government troops.
