Dozens killed, some decapitated, in suspected rebel attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Dozens killed, some decapitated, in suspected rebel attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo

By Gabrielle Nina Mitch and Eoin McSweeney, CNN

 (CNN)Forty-six people from the ethnic Pygmy group were killed -- some of them decapitated -- on Wednesday in a suspected militant attack in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo, according to an NGO official based in the central African country.

An armed group shot civilians and decapitated others with machetes in Ambedi, a village in Irumu territory in Ituri province, said Christophe Munyanderu, regional coordinator for the NGO Convention pour le respect de droit de l'homme, or Convention for the Respect of Human Rights.

A spokesman for the Armed Forces of the DRC in Ituri attributed the attack to the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group that operates in the region. Two of the assailants were arrested and are currently under interrogation, the spokesman said.

Most of the victims were women and children, said Rachel Taruwayo, the regional coordinator for the provincial government.

Munyanderu said that a Pygmy who was hunting during the attack determined the death toll. When he returned to the village, Munyanderu said, he found a female survivor with a gunshot wound and a two-year-old child whose hand had been chopped off.

Full story https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/15/africa/drc-46-killed-milita-attack-intl/index.html