At least 20 civilians have been killed in a village in the gold-rich Ituri province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to local sources.
According to the sources, the notorious Codeco militia – which has spread terror in the north-eastern parts of the country for a long time and has been accused of a number of ethnically motivated massacres – is behind the killings.
The Codeco militia attacked the village of Lodjo on Thursday and killed eight people. On Friday, they returned and the current death toll is 36, according to Innocent Matukadala, head of a regional authority.
The reports of the number of dead, however, vary.
Since the beginning of the year, a large number of civilians have been killed in the Ituri province as a result of clashes between rival armed groups and militias.
