Six soldiers among eight dead in DR Congo attack

BUKAVU, DR Congo: Eight people, six of them soldiers, have been killed in eastern DR Congo, bringing the death toll from attacks by armed groups in the region to 19 in two days, the army said Monday.

Regional spokesman Captain Dieudonne Kasereka said six troops, including a junior officer, and two civilian women, were killed when an army position came under attack last Friday in Tuwe Tuwe, a village in South Kivu province. The army “repelled the attack” and then “reinforced its positions around Tuwe Tuwe to further secure the population,” Kasereka said.

The army accused three armed groups drawn from the Banyamulenge community — the descendants of migrants who came from Rwanda —- who are active in the Fizi, Mwenga and Uvira regions. The following day, 11 people were killed in an ambush in the territory of Djugu, in the province of Ituri, local officials said on Sunday.