Beni – Militia fighters killed a lieutenant colonel and another soldier in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s deeply troubled east, witnesses and local officials said Saturday.
Members of the Mai Mai force attacked the home of a senior army officer overnight, police commander Polo Ngoma in Butembo in North Kivu province, told AFP. Local people reported hearing gunfire.
A lieutenant-colonel and another soldier died, said Colonel Mowa Baeki Tely, who is also Butembo’s mayor.
Two other soldiers were wounded and three militia fighters were killed in the attack, he added.
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Butembo was hit by violence in late July during protests over the alleged failure of UN peacekeeping troops to fight armed groups ravaging the east of the country.
For 30 years, mineral-rich eastern DRC has been the scene of fighting between government troops, a host of militia groups and even soldiers from neighbouring countries.
Since November 2021, Congolese and Ugandan troops have been leading joint operations against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), one of the deadliest groups in the region.
They have failed to stop ADF attacks.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@bulapat1900
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