Congo Militia Attacks Police Chief’s House in Katanga
At least six people died when 50 militia gunmen in the Democratic Republic of Congo attacked the house of the head of military police in Lubumbashi, capital of copper-rich Katanga province, a senior military officer said.
Government forces killed three attackers and wounded nine others, while three soldiers died in the fighting today, Major General Rombault Mbuayama Nsiona, chief of the army’s sixth military region, said in a mobile-phone message.
“The situation was quickly under control and the city is calm,” Mbuayama said. Government spokesman Lambert Mende called the raid “a hit-and-run” attack in a phone message.
Congo is fighting a number of militia groups in Katanga, where more than 375,000 people have been forced from their homes, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. In March, at least 250 members of the Bakata Katanga separatist movement marched into Lubumbashi and clashed with security forces. At least 35 died in the fighting, according to the UN.
The militia groups are predominantly based in central Katanaga, which is rich in tin ore and coltan, an ore used in electronics. Congo’s copper mines, which accounted for the eighth-largest output in the world last year, are mainly located in the south of the province, near the border with Zambia. Lubumbashi is also in the south.