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DRCONGO-UNREST
DR Congo rebels kill six members of same family
GOMA, DR Congo, Nov 15, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Rebels have killed six members of
the same family in eastern DR Congo, local officials said on Friday, more
than two weeks after the Congolese army announced an offensive to root out
insurgents.
Officials said a man and his five children had been killed and three other
people injured in the assault late Thursday in the Beni region, an area
plagued by armed groups.
Local administrator Donat Kibwana blamed the attack on an Islamist-
inspired rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) — a militia of
Ugandan origin that has long operated in the border region in North Kivu
province.
The shadowy group — a legacy of the Congo Wars of the 1990s and 2000s —
has been accused of killing hundreds of civilians over the past five years.
“The situation is currently tense. We are calming the population down,”
Kibwana said, adding that the attack had taken place in Oicha, around 80
kilometres (50 miles) from the Ugandan border.
Local army spokesman Major Mak Hazukay confirmed that six members of the
same family had been killed in the attack, adding that soldiers had “clashed
with the enemy”.
The army said on October 30 it had launched “large-scale operations”,
including shelling and troop deployments, aimed at ridding the area of armed
groups.
But since the announcement roughly 25 civilians have been killed in
attacks attributed to the ADF alone, and residents have accused the army of
focusing their efforts on the wrong areas.
The Islamic State group has claimed some of the ADF’s recent attacks but
there is no clear evidence of any affiliation between them.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1719 hrs