More than 50 civilians were killed in an attack by armed militants in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) late Monday, with the death toll expected to rise as searches continue, according to local officials and civil society leaders.
The assault took place in a cluster of villages in the Djaiba area of Djugu territory, Ituri province, an area that has seen repeated violence from militia groups. Eyewitnesses and local leaders identified the assailants as members of the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO), a militant group active in northeastern Congo.
The attack, which began around 8 p.m., involved setting homes on fire, shooting residents, and using machetes to kill civilians, including women and children, according to village chief Jean Vianney. “There are people injured, many burned to death in their homes,” Vianney said.
A local civil society representative, Jules Tsuba, confirmed that at least 49 bodies had been recovered by Tuesday morning, with searches still ongoing. Some reports suggest that as many as 82 displaced persons from the Hema community may have been killed in the attack.
Despite the presence of Congolese soldiers and United Nations peacekeepers stationed a few kilometers away, there was no reported intervention during the attack, according to local sources.
CODECO, originally founded as an agricultural cooperative in the 1970s, has evolved into an armed group claiming to defend the interests of the Lendu ethnic group in long-standing conflicts with the Hema community. The militia has been accused of mass killings, village raids, and attacks on displacement camps in recent years.
The attack on civilians in Ituri comes amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis in North Kivu, where nearly 3,000 people have been killed since late January following a renewed M23 rebel offensive against Congolese forces.
The M23 seized control of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province earlier this month. On Tuesday, an M23 attack was reported near a village about 70 kilometers from Bukavu in South Kivu province.
