BENI (DR Congo), June 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ten people were killed by militia fighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s volatile east where the army is battling armed groups, officials said.
In the troubled Beni region of North Kivu, “four people were killed”, the region’s top official Donat Kibwana said, blaming the notorious ADF militia.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) have killed hundreds in the region since late last year following a military offensive against their bases.
The ADF is a mainly Muslim movement that originated in neighbouring Uganda in the 1990s, opposed to the rule of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
In 1995, it moved into the DRC, which became its base of operations, although it has not carried out attacks inside Uganda for years.
“We are continuing to track down everybody,” DRC army general Chaligonza Nduru said, adding that 70 percent of the ADF fighters were Congolese.
Further northeast in Ituri, five people were killed by the Cooperative for the Development of Congo, a militant sect.
More than 1,000 civilians have died in attacks blamed on the ADF in the Beni region since October 2014. — NNN-AGENCIES