Two explosions that rocked a city in eastern DR Congo after a meeting organised by the AFC rebel alliance which includes the M23 armed group Thursday have killed at least 11 people and wounded around 60, a hospital source told AFP.
President Felix Tshisekedi called the explosions a “heinous terrorist act by a foreign army which illegally entered Congolese territory”.
A first explosion caused panic, sending spectators fleeing, before a second rang out.
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The meeting which took place in South Kivu provincial capital Bukavu was attended by one of the rebel alliance’s leaders, Corneille Nangaa.
“At the morgue, there are 11 bodies,” all of whom arrived dead, the hospital source said at Bukavu provincial general hospital.
The source added that “in terms of injuries, there are already around 60 (people)”.
Bukavu is one of two key cities in the turbulent region seized in recent weeks by anti-government M23 fighters who UN experts say are backed by Rwandan forces.
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Witnesses present at the M23 meeting had previously told AFP that they had seen between five and seven bodies after the explosions.
The M23 took control of South Kivu provincial capital Bukavu on the 14th of February, after capturing Goma, the capital of North Kivu and the main city in the country’s east, late last month.
East DRC has been the scene of decades of relentless conflict but has been plunged into fresh turmoil as fighters from the M23 group seize swaths of territory in the two provinces.
The seizure of Bukavu and Goma gives a major foothold in the mineral-rich region to the group, which resurfaced in late 2021.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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