Seven Hacked to Death in Congo Hospital as Soldiers Clash With Ugandan Rebels

 

Seven people have been hacked to death in a Congo hospital in the aftermath of a clash between soldiers and rebels.

 

Reuters reports that these people were among at least 30 people killed in fighting at the weekend between the army, backed by U.N. troops, and Islamist Ugandan rebels in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo.

The clashes which occured on Sunday, broke out in the town of Eringeti, 55 km (35 miles) north of the town of Beni near the Ugandan border, when fighters from the ADF - a group led by Islamist radicals - attacked a military headquarters, according to the Center of Study for the Promotion of Peace, Democracy and Human Rights, a group that documents violence in North Kivu province.

U.N. DRC mission spokesman, Felix Basse revealed that at least four Congolese soldiers and 12 Islamist militants were killed in the clashes, while seven civilians were hacked to death with machetes at a hospital, according to a provisional toll.

 

Basse told Reuters that a U.N. peacekeeper from the brigade had been killed and a second wounded in the fighting. He declined to give the nationality of the peacekeepers but a U.N. source said the dead soldier was a Malawian.

He said the town was now once again under the control of Congolese and U.N. forces.