World News | 12 Killed in a Suspected Rebel Attack in the Northeast of Congo, a Civil Society Organisations Says

Kinshasa (Congo), Jul 15 (AP) An extremist rebel group killed at least 12 people in the northeast of Congo, a local civil society organisation said on Saturday.

The New Congolese Civil Society organisation, or NSCC, said the victims were shot dead by the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, a shadowy Islamic State group affiliate that has been launching attacks for years from bases in volatile eastern Congo, following a skirmish with a local armed militia.

Also Read | Spain Forest Fire: Spanish Authorities Evacuate Some 500 People to Escape Wildfire on the Canary Island of La Palma.

Conflict in eastern Congo has gone on for decades as myriad armed groups fight for control of valuable mineral resources. There are frequent mass killings, and the violence has triggered an exodus of refugees.

Farmers in nearby villages discovered the bloodied corpses of 12 people in the bush early Friday as they left to work in their fields. John Vuleverio, coordinator of the NSCC, reported that the death toll was still provisional as the search for other bodies continued in the area.

Also Read | PM Modi in UAE: RBI, CBUAE Sign Pacts to Promote Use of Rupee, UAE Dirham for Cross-Border Transactions.

Col. Jean-Baptiste Munyampazi, the administrator of the territory where the bodies were found, declined to provide an official death toll, indicating that government soldiers stationed in the area were actively tracking down the alleged perpetrators.

In June, the ADF is suspected to have killed at least 41 people — most of them students — in a brutal attack on a school in Uganda, near the border with Congo. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)