More civilians were killed in attacks attributed to the ADF in 2019 and 2020, according to UN figures.
Congolese troops came into contact with the militia Tuesday night but the assailants changed direction and got past them to reach the camp, he said. “I first heard cries when I was still in bed. Then several minutes of gunshots. I fled and I saw torches and people crying for help and I realized it was the CODECO militiamen who had invaded our site,” said Lokana Bale Lussa, a camp resident.
“Initial reports indicate that as many as 59 civilians were killed and a further 40 injured,” the Norwegian Refugee Council said in a statement. Two students at a school supported by the NRC were among the dead, it added, and the assailants had used both guns and machetes.