“We have lost a brave soldier who was killed in an attack on our position at the northern entrance to the city of Butembo at the hands of militias,” a military commander in the Democratic Republic of the Congo told AFP. Two attackers were also killed.

For his part, the head of civil society in the Lojo district of Ituri (north-east of the country) indicated that “six gold diggers were killed after they were beheaded by rebels from the Congo Development Cooperative (Kodeko) militia. Kodeko claims to be protecting Lendu from Hema and security forces and has been accused of violence in Ituri since 2017.

In North Kivu, three civilians were killed in an attack by the Allied Democratic Forces. In South North Kivu, Rutshuru Mayor Jason Ntaviha told AFP that “a man among the demonstrators who carried knives and threw stones at a peacekeeping force base was killed in Kiwange during demonstrations against the United Nations.”

Allied Democratic Forces, which ISIS says is its affiliate in Central Africa, are accused of killing thousands of civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.