Gangs kill soldier, 18 civilians in DR Congo

GOMA, DR Congo: Armed gangs have killed a soldier and 18 civilians, including two children, in machete and gun attacks in volatile northeast DR Congo, officials said on Tuesday.

Overnight, nine civilians were killed and four injured at Oicha Mabasele near the city of Beni by attackers linked to the Islamist-rooted ADF militia group, regional administrator Donat Kibwana told AFP.

At the same time, three civilians were killed, also by suspected ADF members, in nearby in Eringeti, he said.

Dozens of militias operate in the North and South Kivu provinces of Democratic Republic of Congo, a vast country the size of western continental Europe.

The ADF, a group that arose in western Uganda in 1995, has been blamed for massacring hundreds of civilians, killing United Nations peacekeepers and DR Congo troops, and for a number of kidnappings of medical and other staff. The army confirmed the attacks on Tuesday and said it was hunting the assailants.