At least 27 killed in attacks in eastern Congo - official
Thu Oct 16, 2014 6:54pm GMT
* Governor blames attacks on Ugandan ADF-NALU rebels
* Houses burned, some victims decapitated (Writes through with details, UN
reaction)
By Aaron Ross
KINSHASA, Oct 16 (Reuters) - At least 27 people were killed and another
seven people seriously injured in overnight raids on villages near the
eastern Congolese town of Beni, local officials said on Thursday.
Julien Paluku, governor of North Kivu province, blamed the attack on Ugandan
ADF-NALU rebels that operate alongside a string of other local and foreign
armed groups in Democratic Republic of Congo's mineral-rich eastern border
zone.
A Congolese military source, who asked not to be named, said houses were
burned and some of the victims were decapitated.
The mayor of Beni declared a day of mourning.
Martin Kobler, head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, expressed
concern at a spike in violence in the region and said U.N. troops would
remain committed to supporting government troops defeating all rebel groups
in the east, including ADF-NALU.
The Congolese army, backed by U.N. forces, launched an offensive last
December against ADF-NALU following attacks by the group that killed 21
civilians. The strikes have severely crippled the group's operational
capacity, Kobler said earlier this year.
Paluku said the government was re-examining the threat posed by ADF-NALU.
But he said the group was still limited in numbers.
"These are not battalions. These are people that infiltrate villages to kill
people," he said.
The U.N. mission said on Wednesday that ADF-NALU fighters had killed 15
people, including six children between the ages of 7 and 17, in raids in the
same area from Oct. 5 to Oct. 8.
Over 35,000 people had been forced from their homes across the province of
North Kivu during the last six weeks, it estimates.
Violence has simmered in eastern Congo despite U.N. peacekeepers and
government troops last year defeating an insurgency that posed the most
serious threat to Kinshasa's authority since Congo's last war officially
ended in 2003. (Reporting by Aaron Ross in Kinshasa; David Lewis and Bate
Felix in Dakar; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Hugh Lawson)