UN outraged after ADF attacks in DR Congo kill 57

Geneva: The ADF militia killed 57 civilians in displacement camps in the eastern DR Congo on May 31, the United Nations said on Friday, voicing outrage at the gun and machete assaults.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, said the deadly attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces group had forced some 5,800 people to flee multiple displacement sites in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri province.

"On May 31, ADF simultaneously attacked displacement sites and villages near the towns of Boga and Tchabi, killing 57 civilians --including seven children -- who were shot and attacked with machetes," UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch told reporters in Geneva.

"Several others were left wounded and 25 people were abducted, while over 70 shelters and stores were set on fire. In Boga town alone, 31 women, children and men were killed. "Bereaved family members told UNHCR partners that many of their relatives were burnt alive in their houses.

"UNHCR is outraged by this latest in a series of atrocities committed by armed groups in eastern DRC." The agency called for security in the region to be scaled up urgently to protect civilians, many of whom have been attacked and forced to flee multiple times. The ADF is the deadliest of scores of armed militias that roam the mineral-rich eastern DRC.