The number of people killed in two attacks in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to at least 50.
They are thought to have been carried out by gunmen from the Allied Democratic Forces or ADF – one of the dozens of armed groups operating in the region. The area has however also seen violence between two ethnic groups.
One attack was in Boga – the other in Tchabi. Both villages are in eastern Congo’s Ituri province close to the border with Uganda.
Eyewitnesses said armed men on motorbikes targeted a camp for people who had been displaced by earlier violence.
The fact that the wife of a local chief was among the victims has made some in the area suspect ethnic rivalry was behind it rather than the ADF rebel group.
Ituri and neighbouring North Kivu provinces are currently under a kind of state of emergency.
President Felix Tshisekedi gave extra powers to the military to address the insecurity which has seen numerous attacks every week despite the presence of thousands of UN peacekeepers
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