DR Congo says five people killed in rebel bombing of eastern town

20/6/2024 11:25

        At least five people, including three women and a girl, were killed in the bombardment of a town in eastern Congo's North Kivu province on Wednesday, an army spokesperson said, accusing the M23 rebel group of the attack.
        
        According to U.N. data, the deaths illustrate the worsening civilian fallout from the more than two-year conflict between Congolese forces and the Rwanda-backed M23 militia, which has displaced at least 1.5 million people.
        
        Bombs hit a neighbourhood of Kanyabayonga town in the afternoon, said Mak Hazukay, an army spokesperson in Congo's North Kivu province, where the insurgency broke out in early 2022.
        
        Hazukay blamed the M23 for the attack, which he said also wounded three people. It was not immediately possible to reach the M23 for comment.
        
        The conflict, the most sustained offensive by the M23 since a 2012-2013 insurrection, has deepened a humanitarian crisis in a region that has had little respite since Rwanda and Uganda invaded almost three decades ago.