Militants kill 22 with knives in DR Congo

Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 22 civilians with knives and machetes in an overnight raid on villages near the town of Beni in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a local official said on Wednesday.

Just over three weeks ago the government declared martial law in North Kivu and Ituri, two provinces bordering Uganda, in an attempt to stem worsening bloodshed.

A four-month-old baby was found alive on the back of one of the victims, one of seven children from the same family believed to have been orphaned in the latest violence that hit a number of villages around 40km east of Beni.

“They gave the baby to me to feed because she was crying,” the woman’s sister Kavira Mwisha said, holding the baby to her breast. “I call on the government to end this war.”

Thousands flee Goma

Thousands of people and some aid workers scrambled to flee the city of Goma on Thursday after officials said a second volcanic eruption could hit with little or no warning.

Thirty-one people were killed on Saturday evening when Mount Nyiragongo, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, erupted, sending a wall of orange lava downhill towards the lakeside city of about 2 million people, destroying 17 villages on the way.

The lava stopped just 300m short of Goma airport, the main hub for aid operations in the eastern part of the country. BENI, DR CONGO: