Saturday, January 1, 2022

Three police die in east DR Congo attack

SOUTH KIVU, DR Congo

Three policemen were killed and three more wounded in an attack in eastern DR Congo, local and military sources said Friday, with one blaming a notorious militia.

Armed men attacked a police station late Thursday in Kalimbi in the Fizi highlands of South Kivu province, they said.

“Three police were killed, three others were wounded and others are missing,” Emile Mneni Ngando, who represents an association of local civil society groups, told AFP.

A senior army officer in the region, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the toll of three dead and three wounded, and said eight weapons had been taken.

He blamed a group led by army deserter William Amuri Yakutumba, which claims to represent local ethnic groups who have a historical feud with the Banyamulenge — Congolese Tutsis of Rwandan heritage.

On Monday, a colonel, three soldiers and 12 Banyamulenge rebels died in the fighting, according to the army.

More than 120 armed groups are active in eastern DR Congo, many of them a legacy of regional wars that raged in the 1990s, according to monitors.

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