A militia attack killed at least 69 people in Ituri province in the conflict-torn northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, local and security sources told AFP Saturday.

For more than 30 years, the mineral-rich eastern DRC has been a battleground between various armed groups, vying for control of its many mines.

Two ethnic groups, the Hema and the Lendu, have been locked in a long-running violent conflict in Ituri, a gold-rich province that borders Uganda and South Sudan.

Armed men affiliated with the Codeco militia (Cooperative for the Development of Congo), which claims to protect the Lendu, carried out attacks in several villages on April 28, local and security sources told AFP, killing at least 69 people.

These attacks followed an earlier assault by another armed group, the Convention for the Popular Revolution, which says it fights for the Hema community on positions held by the Congolese army near the locality of Pimbo, they said.

More than 70 people were killed when Codeco fighters launched the retaliatory attacks in late April, civil society leader Dieudonne Losa told AFP.

On condition of anonymity, two other security sources confirmed the attacks, with one stating a death toll of at least 69, including 19 militia members and soldiers.

The presence of Codeco fighters delayed the recovery of the bodies for several days, they said.

“Only 25 bodies have been buried,” Losa said Saturday, adding several sets of remains had yet to be recovered.

A humanitarian source described bodies “strewn on the ground” near the village of Bassa, one of the areas targeted.

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The United Nations’ mission in the DRC said on April 30 it had rescued “nearly 200 people caught under fire” from the CRP assault on the FARDC.

On Saturday, it said it “strongly condemns the recent wave of deadly attacks targeting civilians” in the restive east.

The Ente association, a non-profit representing the Hema community, described the killings as a “massacre”, urging its members to avoid retaliation.

Famous for its mineral wealth, ranging from cobalt and copper to uranium and diamonds, the former Belgian colony has long been beset by corruption and bloodshed.

Since early 2025, Ituri has seen a resurgence of the CRP, a group founded by convicted Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga.

He was found guilty in 2012 by the International Criminal Court for recruiting children into his rebel army and released in 2020 on completion of his prison sentence.

Fighting between the CRP, the Congolese army, and the Codeco militia has been marked by widespread abuses and killings of civilians.

The region also faces ongoing attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces, a group formed by former Ugandan rebels that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

The province has been plunged into a humanitarian crisis, with nearly one million internally displaced people, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

AFP