Anger In Eastern DRC As 6 Die In Goma Shootings

Bandits shot dead six people in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo overnight, sparking angry protests by residents who blockaded the main street running through Goma city on Sunday, officials said.

In a separate incident in South Kivu meanwhile, the army said they had killed six members of a former rebel militia.

In North Kivu, the deputy prosecutor of Goma, Claver Kahasa, told AFP: "We have just recovered the bodies of five civilians and a soldier who were killed" during an overnight gun battle.

"Armed bandits came into Goma to the Ndosho neighbourhood and have left the town bereaved by shooting dead five civilians," said city mayor Timothee Muissa Kiense.

In a separate incident in South Kivu meanwhile, the army said they had killed six members of a former rebel militia.

Since the start of the year, at least 25 people have been killed in a string of shootings in Goma by unidentified gunmen, often referred to as bandits.

"The population is very clearly angry, there is a lot of tension," said the mayor, whose city is the capital of North Kivu province and home to one million people.

Residents furious at the ongoing violence ravaging the country's east blocked off the main road leading to the western Ndosho district, halting traffic, an AFP correspondent said.

The incident occurred just hours after a group of newly-elected regional MPs met with local officials, the police and the army to discuss the growing insecurity in the city.

"It is unacceptable that they can continue to kill people like that in Goma," MP Jean-Paul Lumbulumbu, who was leading a group of lawmakers, told AFP.

North Kivu, which borders Uganda and Rwanda, has been gripped by violence for decades, with numerous militia groups and armed gangs roaming the province and fighting for control of territorial and natural resources.

In neighbouring South Kivu meanwhile, the army said Sunday they had shot dead six militia members because they had been mistreating civilians.

Soldiers had launched an assault Saturday on a rebel camp in the village of Kafulo, where they had made their base after recently surrendering, said army spokesman Captain Dieudonne Kasereka.

The group were followers of rebel chief Ebwela Mutetezi Kibukila who at the end of January surrendered to the authorities along with 300 of his men.

Speaking on local radio Sunday, Ebwela Mutetezi said they had decided to end their fight after former president Joseph Kabila handed over power to his successor, Felix Tshisekedi, in January.

They been gathered at Kafulo awaiting word from the government when the soldiers attacked, taking them by surprise and killing his wife and six of his men, he added.

Kasereka said the former rebels had been mistreating local people and stealing from them.