More than dozen killed in Congolese church attack

At least 14 people were killed when militants attacked a church in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeastern province of Ituri on Sunday, according to reports citing local sources and the army.

The Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO), a militia operating in the violence-ridden east of the country, carried out the assault on a fishermen’s camp in Gobu, Charite Banza, president of an Ituri civil society organization, told AFP.

Nine civilians, a soldier, and four CODECO militiamen died in the attack, according to Pilo Mulindo, head of the Bahema-Nord chiefdom where the incident occurred.

Army spokesperson Jules Ngongo Tshikudi confirmed that CODECO carried out the attack on “civilians who were praying on Sunday in their church in Gobu.”

“Our forces retaliated to this attack, and the militiamen are being pursued,” Tshikudi was quoted by AFP as saying.

The CODECO militia, drawn primarily from the agriculturalist Lendu ethnic group, has a long history of disputes with Hema pastoralists.

In June, Congolese authorities accused the group of killing 46 people in an attack on a camp for displaced persons in the Ituri province.