At least 26 people have been killed and 13 wounded so far this year in two attacks by Rwandan Hutu rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, an army official said Wednesday.
The attacks - blamed on the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) - took place on the nights of January 1 and 3 in the Shabunda region in Sud Kivu province.
“The first attack targeted the leadership of Luyuyu and killed 18 civilians while six houses were burned,” Colonel Sylvain Ekenge, spokesman for military operations in Nord and Sud Kivu, told AFP.
“The second attack in the town of Ngolombe left eight dead.”
Overall 13 people had been injured, he said.
A rights group cited by Radio Okapi said that in total 40 people had died.