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DR Congo rebels kill 14 in refugee camp attack

The Democratic Republic of Congo rebels on Tuesday killed 14 people including women and children in an attack at a refugee camp in Ituri Province in the eastern part of the country.

The army spokesman, Jules Ngongo Tsikudi, confirmed the incident in a statement on Wednesday.

Tsikudi said the attack was carried out by rebels of the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO), a political-religious sect which claims to represent the interests of the Lendu ethnic group.

He said: “The rebels raided a site outside the eastern town of Fataki where hundreds of civilians have sought refuge in recent months, killing 14 people including children.”

A civil society leader, Dieudonne Lossa, who also confirmed the attack, said the death toll was higher than 15.

He accused the CODECO of staging another attack on a nearby artisanal mining site on Sunday that killed at least 35 people.

CODECO is renowned for targeting civilians, and only last month, killed 18 people at a church and another 60 at a displaced persons camp in February.

Local militia killed at least 63 people at a displaced persons’ camp in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a humanitarian group said.

The group accused the CODECO militia of carrying out the killings which occurred in the early hours of the day at the Savo camp near Bule in Ituri province.

The Ituri army spokesman, Jules Ngongo, also confirmed the attack.

He however claimed that 20 people were killed in the attack.

The President of the humanitarian group for the Bahema-North area, Charite Banza Bavi, told journalists that 40 people were seriously injured in the attack.

He said: “Two students at a school supported by the Norwegian Refugees Commission were among the dead. The assailants used both guns and machetes.”

CODECO is one of the militia groups operating in eastern Congo amid longstanding tensions over land and resources.