14 people were slain in an assault by militiamen in Congo

The army said Monday that 14 people were killed in a firefight that began when militia fighters invaded a community in northeastern Congo. This latest violence in the unrest-ridden east of the nation.

According to Col. Mapela Mviniama, armed CODECO militia members attacked the hamlet of Gobu on Sunday night and killed nine civilians and one soldier from the Republic of the Congo. According to him, two military and two civilians were wounded in the combat, which also claimed the lives of four assailants.

In eastern Congo, where conflict has erupted for decades, violence has been on the rise. More than 120 armed factions are engaged in conflict in the area, the most of which are vying for control of mines that contain rich minerals and land, while some are also attempting to defend local populations.

A loose coalition of ethnic Lendu militias known as CODECO has been engaged in conflict with Zaire, a mostly Hema self-defense organization, since 2017. According to the African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism, CODECO assaults resulted in almost 1,800 fatalities and more than 500 injuries over the course of four years, from 2022.

The United Nations claims that the militia has grown recently.

In the Ituri region of the Congo, CODECO militants murdered 45 people in June. According to Kinos Katuo, a prominent member of the local civil society, CODECO and other organizations have murdered over 100 individuals in the last month in the neighboring provinces of Nord Kivu and Ituri.