Militia attack kills 34 civilians

Pulse 12:30 - 27 November 2016

Add Pulse as a preferred source on Google

DR Congo has been going through a prolonged political crisis which deepened in October after the presidential election, which had been due before the year's end, was postponed until April 2018

In DR Congo, 34 civilians have been hacked down by the militia group in an ethnic clash.

At least 34 civilians were killed Sunday in ethnic violence in restive eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities said.

"The provisional toll is 34 civilians killed," said local official Joy Bokele, referring to the attack by a Nande ethnicity militia on the Hutu village of Luhanga.

"They started by attacking the FARDC (DR Congo military) position. While they were attacking the FARDC, another group was executing the population with bladed weapons or bullets," Bokele said.

He added that the attack was carried out by a Nande militia group and that one of the attackers was killed in the clashes.

Tension between the Nande and Hutu peoples have been high in the restive east, shaken by two decades of fighting over land, ethnic tensions and mineral riches.