A Militia Attack on a Congo Gold Mine Kills 6 Chinese Miners and 2 Congolese Soldiers

BY RUTH ALONGA

12:11 PM EDT, July 4, 2024

GOMA, Congo (AP) — A militia attack on a gold mine in northeastern Congo killed six Chinese miners and two Congolese soldiers, a civil society group said Thursday, the latest assault as violence worsens in the resource-rich region.

The attack on Wednesday targeted the village of Gambala and the nearby “Camp Blanquette” gold mine in the Ituri province, according to Jean Robert Basiloko, a member of a local civil society group. A militia known as the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, or CODECO, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Eastern Congo has been torn by decadelong fighting between government forces and more than 120 armed groups, often involving bombs targeting civilians as the militias seek a share of the region’s gold and other resources. Violence in the region has worsened in recent months as security forces battle the militias.

On Wednesday, the militiamen set homes ablaze and then attacked the mine, which is guarded by a competing armed group, the Zaire Militia, Basiloko told The Associated Press.

They attackers killed six Chinese miners and two Congolese troops, he added, and abducted two other miners, whose whereabouts remain unknown.