An attack on three villages in northeastern DR Congo on Sunday that was blamed on a terrorist group claimed the lives of eight farmers, a local official said.
Around five in the morning (0300 GMT), CODECO (Cooperative for the Development of the Congo) members attacked the villages of Duvire, Njalo, and Bengi, Adubango Kivia reported to AFP from the Ituri province’s Djugu district.
“A woman was one of the eight bodies we discovered. Farmers, they are. He continued, accusing the militiamen of torching numerous residences and robbing livestock. “They were shot dead and then chopped up by machete,” he said.
Adubango Kivia said that the militiamen “operated calmly” and urged the deployment of Congolese troops “to secure the population and put an end to massacres” in the region around 100 kilometers to the north of Bunia, the provincial capital.
According to CODECO, it is defending the Lendu community from the Hema and the DRC military.
The Zaire militia protects the Hema, but the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which are affiliated with the Islamic State terrorist group, also attack the region.
Numerous armed groups, many of which are a result of local conflicts that erupted in the 1990s and 2000s in Eastern Congo, plague the region.
One of the violent hotspots is the province of Ituri, where multiple-death attacks are commonplace.
On April 14, in villages around 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the provincial capital of Bunia, the most recent attack attributed to CODECO claimed the lives of more than 40 individuals.
