(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Ten people were killed when an armed militia group attacked a community of displaced people in Congo, a local administrator said on Sunday.
A group known as the Ngumino rebels teamed up with a Burundian militia to attack the village of Kikumbe in South Kivu province, district official Aime Kawaya told dpa. The attack took place on Friday.
"The rebels burnt huts and stole more than 200 cows and about thirty motorbikes from this village," said Kawaya. Security has since been dispatched to the area.
The rebel group is linked to the Banyamulenge community, more commonly known as Congo's Tutsi community. The Burundian militia operate across the border in Congo's troubled east.
Numerous rebel groups are active in eastern Congo, primarily fighting over the area's rich mineral resources.
After years of conflict, government control remains precarious and various political factions and local militias vie for control of the region, which borders Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.
Violence in the region has escalated in the last several months, with at least 76,000 displaced by the attacks, according to a report this week by the United Nations Refugee Agency.
Since last year, at least 90 people from the surrounding area have been killed in fighting between the armed militias.
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