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4 soldiers killed in attack in central Congo

Sunday, 14 January 2018 4:32 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 14 January 2018 6:01 PM ]

Soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) install a mobile artillery piece (front) next to a mobile multiple rocket launcher in Matombo, North Kivu, January 13, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

Suspected militia fighters killed four Congolese soldiers in a hit-and-run attack on a military post in troubled Kasai-Central province's capital, Kananga, UN-funded radio reported on Sunday.

Fighting between the Kamuina Nsapu militia and government forces over the past year and a half has displaced over 1 million people in Democratic Republic of Congo's Kasai provinces. Millions more have been hit by a severe humanitarian crisis.

Citing UN sources, Radio Okapi, which is supported by Congo's peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, said the assailants attacked a military post near Kananga's airport in the early morning hours before disappearing into the surrounding bush.

Local authorities were not immediately reachable for comment on the attack.

More than a decade after the end of a 1998-2003 war in which millions of people died, mostly from hunger and disease, militia attacks are on the rise across the vast, mineral-rich nation.

The violence comes amid a political crisis linked to President Joseph Kabila's refusal to step down when his mandate expired a year ago and has raised concerns that Congo could again slide into all-out war.

(Source: Reuters)

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