BENI, Democratic Republic of Congo, March 4 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed Sunday in an ambush by suspected Ugandan rebels in Beni, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), security sources said.

Suspected rebels of the Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) also kidnapped eight others in the ambush on the Eringeti road, according to the sources, who requested anonymity.

Ugandan rebels are active on several roads in Beni territory where they regularly attack civilian transport vehicles.

Active for more than 20 years in this part of the country, ADF rebels have killed thousands in the province of North Kivu.

The DRC military recently started a large-scale operation against the rebel group. </s> , BENI , Democratic Republic of Congo, Sep 23 – Sixteen people, including 12 civilians, were killed in a rebel attack on Beni in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s restive east, witnesses told AFP on Sunday.

A doctor at the local hospital reported seeing 16 dead bodies, “including 12 civilians and four soldiers or rebels.” Eight people were injured, of whom five civilians, in the attack late Saturday.

The Beni region is under siege from the Allied Defence Forces (ADF), an Islamist rebel group blamed for hundreds of civilian deaths over the past four years.

Foreign humanitarian workers have been stationed in Beni, in the north Kivu province near the border with Uganda, since early August to deal with a new Ebola outbreak in the region.

“The surprise attack happened in the streets of Beni city,” the doctor told AFP. Four of the dead were killed while travelling in a taxi.

According to several witness accounts, the attack started around 1630-1700 GMT.

Heavy and light calibre gunfire was heard for several hours until after midnight local time. It was not known whether the army counter-attacked.

The rebels targeted areas near the centre of the trading settlement of several hundred thousand inhabitants.

The ADF is a militia initially created by Muslim rebels to oppose Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, but also operates in the DRC.

The group has been in the east of the country since 1995 and are accused by the UN and Congolese authorities of committing a series of civilian massacres since 2014.

However, in 2015 the New York University Study Group on Congo said it was not just the ADF behind the killings and that other armed elements, including members of the Congolese army, were also to blame.

North Kivu, one of the most populated areas of the DRC, is home to a number of armed groups that kill or abduct civilians. </s> Seven people died in a raid by suspected Ugandan Islamist rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the latest in a string of deadly cross-border attacks, officials said Sunday.

"Six people were shot dead and another was stabbed" in the village of Eringeti in DR Congo's restive North Kivu province, a Congolese military source told AFP.

Eringeti's mayor Leon Baungatho said the assault happened around 5.30 pm (1530 GMT) on Saturday.

"We are still grieving," said regional official Noela Kavivutwiraki. "The army needs to redouble its efforts to prevent suprise attacks from Ugandan rebels."

Thought to be behind a string of deadly attacks in North Kivu, the Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia stands accused of a number of attrocities in DR Congo.

Congolese authorities and the UN mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, accuse the ADF of having killed more than 700 civilians as well as combatants in the Beni region from 2014-16.

The ADF is also accused of killing 14 UN peacekeepers in eastern DR Congo on December 7, in the biggest single loss of peacekeepers in nearly a quarter of a century.

The government in January declared it was waging "war" on the ADF and a Congolese militia, the Yakutumba, which is active in South Kivu province, several hundred kilometres (miles) to the south. </s> DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: At least 18 people, including 14 civilians, have been killed in a rebel attack in Beni in Democratic Republic of Congo's restive east, an army spokesperson told AFP on Sunday.

Four soldiers were among the dead following the attack on Saturday night, military official Mak Hazukai said, with witnesses describing gunfire and groups of assailants slashing victims with machetes.

The Beni region, not far from the Ugandan border, is under siege from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist rebel group blamed for hundreds of civilian deaths over the past four years.

"The territory and the city of Beni are facing ADF terrorism whose command structure is led by Ugandans," said Hazukai, adding that nine people were also wounded in Saturday's violence.

The ADF is a militia initially created by Muslim rebels to oppose Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, but also operates in the DRC.

"The surprise attack happened in the streets of Beni city," a doctor at the local hospital told AFP. Four of the dead were killed while travelling in a taxi.

According to several witness accounts, the attack started around 1630-1700 GMT.

"There were lots of attackers, they gave a shout of joy... The rebels cut victims with a machete," witness Kasero Mumbi said.

ALSO READ | Ebola outbreak: Death toll in DR Congo now at 61

Heavy and light calibre gunfire was heard for several hours until after midnight local time. It was not known whether the army counter-attacked.

The rebels targeted areas near the centre of the city, home to several hundred thousand people.

"The people of North Kivu are suffering too much. This weekend again many innocent people have died," Dutch Ambassador Robert Schuddeboom said.

The ADF has been in the east of DR Congo since 1995 and is accused by the UN and Congolese authorities of committing a series of civilian massacres since 2014.

However, in 2015 the New York University Study Group on Congo said it was not just the ADF behind the killings and that other armed elements, including members of the Congolese army, were also to blame.

Beni is in North Kivu province, one of the most populated areas of the DRC, and home to a number of armed groups that kill or abduct civilians.

Foreign humanitarian workers have been stationed in Beni since early August to deal with a new Ebola outbreak in the region. </s> At least 16 people have been killed and eight others injured in a rebel attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo's restive eastern city of Beni, according to witnesses.

Twelve of the dead were civilians and the rest government soldiers, witnesses told the AFP news agency on Sunday. The attack on late Saturday also left five civilians injured, according to a doctor at a local hospital. 



The Beni region is under siege from the Allied Defence Forces (ADF), a Ugandan rebel group that has operated in the region since 1995, which has been blamed for hundreds of civilian deaths over the past four years.

Foreign humanitarian workers have been stationed in Beni, in the North Kivu province near the border with Uganda, since early August to deal with a new Ebola outbreak in the region.

 

"The surprise attack happened in the streets of Beni city," the doctor told AFP. Four of the dead were killed while travelling in a taxi.

 

According to several witness accounts, the attack started around 16:30-17:00 GMT. 

 

Heavy and light-calibre gunfire was heard for several hours until after midnight local time. It was not known whether the army counterattacked.

 

The rebels attacked areas near the centre of the trading settlement of several hundred thousand inhabitants.

The ADF group is responsible for the deaths of more than 1,500 people and 800 kidnappings since 2014, according to local civil society organisations.

North Kivu, one of the most populated areas of the DRC, is home to a number of armed groups that kill or abduct civilians. </s> BENI: Sixteen people, including 12 civilians, were killed in a rebel attack on Beni in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s restive east, witnesses told AFP on Sunday. A doctor at the local hospital reported seeing 16 dead bodies, “including 12 civilians and four soldiers or rebels.” Eight people were injured, of whom five civilians, in the attack late Saturday. The Beni region is under siege from the Allied Defence Forces (ADF), an Islamist rebel group blamed for hundreds of civilian deaths over the past four years. Foreign humanitarian workers have been stationed in Beni, in the north Kivu province near the border with Uganda, since early August to deal with a new Ebola outbreak in the region. “The surprise attack happened in the streets of Beni city,” the doctor told AFP. Four of the dead were killed while travelling in a taxi. According to several witness accounts, the attack started around 1630-1700 GMT. </s> KINSHASA, Congo — A Congolese civil society group says that 18 people have been killed in attacks by suspected Allied Democratic Forces rebels in the eastern city of Beni, as the city and region continue to face an Ebola outbreak.

The U.N.-backed Radio Okapi reported Sunday that 14 civilians and 4 soldiers were killed in the attacks Saturday in the Rwenzori community of Beni.

The ADF rebels attacked a military position and the battle caused the deaths. Radio Okapi also reported many market stalls were looted by the suspected Uganda-based rebels.

Such attacks hamper efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak that Congo’s ministry said has infected at least 118 people, including 69 people who have died.

Congo’s tenth outbreak was declared on Aug. 1. More than 10,000 people have since been vaccinated. </s> Seven United Nations peacekeepers were killed in an operation against a rebel militia in eastern DR Congo, the UN said on Thursday.

Ten other peacekeeping troops were wounded, and another is missing, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York.

Several Congolese were also killed or wounded in the joint operation, he said.

The deaths mark the biggest loss by the large UN force in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the rebels killed 15 troops nearly a year ago.

Earlier Thursday, General Bernard Commins, deputy head of the MONUSCO force, said a joint operation had been launched with DRC troops on Tuesday against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a jihadi group blamed for bloody attacks on civilians.

The offensive aimed at Kididiwe, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Beni, a city of between 200,000 and 300,000 inhabitants, said Commins.

"We are holding Kididiwe at present, after violent fighting with an armed group. At present, we are evacuating wounded Congolese troops and Blue Helmets," he told AFP. He added he was unable to provide any information about reports at that time of fatalities.

Six peacekeepers from Malawi and one from Tanzania were killed, the UN said in New York.

Malawi's armed forces confirmed earlier that four of its soldiers with MONUSCO -- a sergeant and three privates aged between 29 and 38 -- had been killed on Wednesday.

The military "has lost courageous, hardworking and disciplined soldiers who were always ready to serve to ensure that peace prevails," the Malawi Defence Force said in a statement.

It gave no further details on where or how they died.

Commins described Kididiwe as a "major stronghold" of the ADF.

A Congolese officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the town had been used as a springboard for militia attacks on Beni's suburbs this year.

On Wednesday, Commins said MONUSCO had deployed attack helicopters against ADF forces threatening UN troops in the Mayangose area, northeast of Beni.

The region is also battling an Ebola outbreak that has left more than 200 dead. Insecurity is hampering efforts to contain the disease, the UN spokesman said.

The ADF is an Islamist-rooted group that rose in western Uganda in 1995, led by Jamil Mukulu, a Christian turned Muslim.

Forced out of Uganda, it operates in the border area in the DRC's North Kivu province.

It has been blamed for recruiting and using child soldiers, killing hundreds of civilians since 2014, as well as 15 Tanzanian peacekeepers, who died in an attack in December 2017.

Those fatalities were the biggest loss of life in a UN peacekeeping force since 1993 when 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in Somalia during clashes with a local warlord.

On Monday, MONUSCO's head, Leila Zerrougui, sounded the alarm over violence in the eastern DRC, saying it cast a shadow over the country's elections on December 23.

"I have grown increasingly alarmed over the situation in Beni in recent months, where we continue to face major challenges in implementing our mandate," she added.

"There is a potential for armed group interference in elections in specific areas throughout eastern DRC," she said.

MONUSCO has around 17,000 members, making it one of the UN's biggest peacekeeping operations. Created in 1999 during the Second Congo War, it has an annual budget of $1.153 billion (1.02 billion euros). </s> Authorities on Thursday said 27 people have been killed during attacks by a rebel group in eastern Congo’s North Kivu province since the weekend.

Hope Sabini, Deputy Provincial Governor, said that the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) militia group attacked several villages in Rutshuru area over several days,

He said nineteen civilians were killed as well as eight rebels.

The FDLR are mostly Rwandan Hutu fighters, whom Human Rights Watch and other organisations have accused of carrying out murders, mutilations and rape.

Numerous militias and rebel groups are active in the troubled provinces of North and South Kivu.

Some conflicts have ethnic components, many are also about control of the country’s lucrative natural mineral resources.
Seven people are killed in an attack on the city of Beni, North Kivu, DR Congo by the Allied Democratic Forces rebel group, which crossed the border from Uganda.