Militia attack kills at least 69 in eastern DR Congo as UN warns of deadly violence surge

A militia attack killed at least 69 people in Ituri province in the troubled northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, local and security sources told AFP Saturday.

Armed men affiliated with the Codeco militia carried out the attack at the end of April, said the sources. The lack of security in the zone delayed the recovery of the bodies for several days. Security sources put the toll at 69 dead but a local civil protection official, Dieudonne Losa, told AFP that more than 70 people had been killed.

Earlier on Saturday, the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo warned of a “deadly” wave of attacks in the country’s restive east targeting civilians. “Dozens of civilians have been killed in recent days” in areas in the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, MONUSCO said, without elaborating. The mineral-rich eastern DRC has been plagued for three decades by conflict involving various armed groups, militia and army troops.