By AFP
BANDUNDU: Five people were killed in an attack in the western Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said Saturday, in the latest violence to hit the restive region.
“Mobondo” militants attacked the village of Batshongo, in Kwango province, late on Friday, said provincial government spokesman Adelar Nkisi, referring to a militia from the Yaka community.
Nkisi told AFP that two soldiers, one police officer and two civilians were killed in the attack, saying the soldiers had been “practically chopped to pieces”.
AFP was unable to independently confirm the death toll, which Nkisi said could rise further.
A police spokesman could not be reached for comment, and an army spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the Batshongo attack.
Symphorien Kwengo, a Kwango civil society leader, said that a clash between Mobondo fighters and security forces had left at least four people dead.
Conflict in western regions of DRC first erupted last year, in the Kwamouth territory of Mai-Ndombe province, in a dispute over customary tithes between the Teke and Yaka communities.
The Teke consider themselves indigenous to the region, as opposed to the Yaka and other communities whom they see as newer arrivals.
Tensions over a hike in a customary tax paid to Teke chiefs — paid by all communities, including Teke farmers — appeared to have boiled over in June 2022, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
At least 300 people have been killed since then in Mai-Ndombe, HRW said in a report in March.
But the attacks in the rural province are difficult to verify, and some observers argue that the death toll is likely much higher.
The fighting has since spilled over into the neighbouring province of Kwango as well as the capital province of Kinshasa.
Batshongo is on the border between Kwango and Kinshasa provinces.
On Thursday, a soldier and four militants were killed in an alleged Mobondo attack in the village of Nguma in Kinshasa province, just 75 kilometres (45 miles) from city centre of the sprawling capital.
The festering conflict in western DRC has been largely overlooked amid the violence in the country’s east, where the M23 rebellion has conquered swathes of territory.
BANDUNDU: Five people were killed in an attack in the western Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said Saturday, in the latest violence to hit the restive region.
“Mobondo” militants attacked the village of Batshongo, in Kwango province, late on Friday, said provincial government spokesman Adelar Nkisi, referring to a militia from the Yaka community.
Nkisi told AFP that two soldiers, one police officer and two civilians were killed in the attack, saying the soldiers had been “practically chopped to pieces”.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
AFP was unable to independently confirm the death toll, which Nkisi said could rise further.
A police spokesman could not be reached for comment, and an army spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the Batshongo attack.
Symphorien Kwengo, a Kwango civil society leader, said that a clash between Mobondo fighters and security forces had left at least four people dead.
Conflict in western regions of DRC first erupted last year, in the Kwamouth territory of Mai-Ndombe province, in a dispute over customary tithes between the Teke and Yaka communities.
The Teke consider themselves indigenous to the region, as opposed to the Yaka and other communities whom they see as newer arrivals.
Tensions over a hike in a customary tax paid to Teke chiefs — paid by all communities, including Teke farmers — appeared to have boiled over in June 2022, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
At least 300 people have been killed since then in Mai-Ndombe, HRW said in a report in March.
But the attacks in the rural province are difficult to verify, and some observers argue that the death toll is likely much higher.
The fighting has since spilled over into the neighbouring province of Kwango as well as the capital province of Kinshasa.
Batshongo is on the border between Kwango and Kinshasa provinces.
On Thursday, a soldier and four militants were killed in an alleged Mobondo attack in the village of Nguma in Kinshasa province, just 75 kilometres (45 miles) from city centre of the sprawling capital.
The festering conflict in western DRC has been largely overlooked amid the violence in the country’s east, where the M23 rebellion has conquered swathes of territory.
