Fourteen dead, including 7 children, in attack on IDP camp in DRC

Fourteen people, including seven children, were killed on Saturday in an attack by a group of militiamen against a camp for displaced persons in Ituri, in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the local Red Cross reported on Sunday.

Among the victims, killed with machetes, are a two-year-old girl and five women aged between 25 and 32, according to a list drawn up by the local Red Cross consulted by AFP.

“The militiamen of CODECO (Cooperative for the Development of Congo) entered Drakpa and started killing people with machetes (...). The victims are displaced persons who had fled Ngotshi village,” said Jean D'Zba Banju, a community leader in the Djugu area of Ituri, adding that five others were injured.

CODECO is an armed group structured around a political-religious sect that claims to represent the interests of the Lendu ethnic group.

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