Armed men kill at least 33 in village in Ebola-hit eastern DRC

Armed men thought to be linked to an ISIL (ISIS)-affiliated group have raided villages in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), killing dozens of people, according to authorities and civil society groups. The attackers also set fire to a ⁠health post during their overnight assault on Cantine, about 50km west of Beni in North Kivu province, forcing ⁠patients with confirmed and suspected Ebola infections to flee.

Fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed group set fire to several houses and killed civilians, Beni territorial administrator Colonel ⁠Charles Omeonga told the Reuters news agency on Friday. “So far, we have counted 33 bodies and more than 50 houses set on fire, along with various other forms of material destruction,” he told the AP news agency.

Tchetche Aliamini, another local ⁠civil society leader, confirmed the death toll to Reuters and said that most of the victims suffered gunshot wounds, while others had been burned or hacked with machetes.