Militants Kill 15 In Eastern Congo

Posted by African Examiner African News, News Around Africa Tuesday, February 15th, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Local authorities on Tuesday reported that militants armed with guns and machetes killed at least 15 people and injured four in an early morning raid on a village in Congo’s eastern Ituri province.

Sector chief Innocent Matukadala said attackers stormed the village of Syeri Aberkozo just before dawn, hacking residents with machetes and setting several buildings ablaze.

“We have a death toll of 15 persons killed, and four people wounded,” he said. “Two of the injured are in critical states, and we don’t know if God will allow their survival.’’

Matukadala and witnesses blamed the attack on the CODECO militia, who earlier killed 60 residents in a displaced persons camp elsewhere in the Ituri province, according to a local humanitarian group and a camp resident.

CODECO was one of several militant groups active in eastern Congo, where frictions over land and resources have spurred decades of violence.

Its fighters have killed hundreds of civilians and displaced thousands more, and in recent months have attacked camps for those displaced by its own attacks, according to the United Nations.

Maki Kilota Gale, a farmer from a village neighbouring Syeri Aberkozo, was shot in the foot while fleeing the attack, after having lost several family members in other recent raids, he said.

“I wanted to go to my field very early, but halfway there I heard gunshots and immediately started to flee, and that’s when I was shot,’’ he told Reuters.

“We don’t know why these CODECO militiamen are attacking us. I wanted to die this morning.’’

NAN