11 killed in rebel attack near Beni in Congo’s northeast

KINSHASA, Congo – A civil society leader says a rebel attack near the northeastern Congo town of Beni has killed at least 11 people, including one soldier and two attackers.

Teddy Kataliko, the president of a Beni civil society group, said Monday that homes were burned in Sunday’s daytime assault in the Boikene locality. He says the rebel group Allied Democratic Forces, often blamed for increasing violence in the region, likely staged the assault.

The ADF rebels, with origins in Uganda, are among scores of armed groups present in mineral-rich eastern Congo.

Human Rights Watch has said fighters have killed nearly 700 people in eastern Congo since October 2014. The group says the government and the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo need a new strategy to protect civilians in the region.