Agence France-Presse
At least 24 civilians were killed by gunmen who launched an attack on a number of villages in Ituri province in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), mired in ethnic violence, local sources said.
The sources said the attackers belonged to the Kodiko militia, which says it takes up arms in defense of the Lendu ethnicity.
She added that the gunmen launched these attacks in retaliation for the killing of a teacher from the Lindu ethnic group on Sunday morning at the hands of gunmen from the “Zaire” militia, which says it defends the people of the Hema ethnicity.
A source in the humanitarian relief said that the bodies of 16 civilians who were killed on Sunday “by Kodiko militias in the villages of Blokwa, Jessa and Largo” were recovered in the northern Bahima district of Djougou province.
On Monday evening, the death toll from the three villages rose to 24, according to the same source.
This outcome was confirmed by Charité Banza, head of civil society in the region.
“We have found more bodies in Jessa, Largo and Beloqua,” Banza told AFP, bringing the total number of dead from 16 to 24.
Panza expressed his fear that the death toll could be more than that.
“There are other villages that are still inaccessible,” he said. “It is ruin. We are dying like animals.”
Panza explained that the militants burned homes and looted property during their attacks, which caused a “mass exodus” of the terrified population.
The Codeco (Cooperative for Development in the Congo) militia is a politico-religious-military group that says it defends the interests of the Lendu ethnic group.
There are about 120 militias operating in the volatile eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, of which Codeco is considered one of the most violent. Many ethnic massacres in Ituri have been attributed to this militia.