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Scattered along the banks of the Ituri River, buildings cram together, cranes transport dirt and debris scatters the soil. The patches of trees are a scant reminder that a forest once grew there. Nestled in eastern Congo's Ituri province, the Chinese-run gold mine is rapidly encroaching on an area that many say it shouldn’t be operating in at all - the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, an endangered World Heritage site. A gold mining town in Congo has become an mpox hot spot as a new strain spreads The original boundaries of the reserve were established three decades ago, by Congo’s government and encompassed the area where the Chinese company now mines. But over the years under opaque circumstances, the boundaries shrunk, allowing the company to operate inside the plush forest. The reserve was already on the endangered list, amid threats of conflict and wildlife trafficking. Now the rapid expansion of the Chinese mines threatens to further degrade the forest and the communities living within. Residents and wildlife experts say the mining's polluting the rivers and soil, decimating trees and swelling the population, increasing poaching, with little accountability. “It is alarming that a semi-industrial mining operation is being given free rein in what’s supposed to be a protected World Heritage Site, that was already on the danger list,” said Joe Eisen, executive director, of Rainforest Foundation UK. Fire in gold mine kills at least 27, Peruvian officials say Spanning more than 13,000 square kilometers (5,000 square miles), the reserve became a protected site in 1996, due to its unique biodiversity and large number of threatened species, including its namesake, the okapi, a forest giraffe, of which it holds some 15% of the world’s remaining 30,000. It's part of the the Congo Basin rainforest — the world’s second-biggest — and a vital carbon sink that helps mitigate climate change. It also has vast mineral wealth such as gold and diamonds. Mining is prohibited in protected areas, which includes the reserve, according to Congo's mining code. Issa Aboubacar, a spokesperson for the Chinese company, Kimia Mining Investment, said the group is operating legally. It recently renewed its permits until 2048, according to government records. Congo's mining registry said the map they’re using came from files from the ICCN, the body responsible for managing Congo's protected areas, and it’s currently working with the ICCN on updating the boundaries and protecting the park. The ICCN told The Associated Press that in meetings this year with the mining registry the misunderstandings around the boundaries were clarified and the original ones should be used. An internal government memo from August, seen by AP, said all companies in the Reserve will be closed down, including Kimia Mining. However, it was unclear when that would happen or how. The document has not previously been reported and is the first acknowledging that the current boundaries are wrong, according to environmentalists working in Congo. Rights groups in Congo have long said the permits were illegally awarded by the mining ministry based on inaccurate maps. Shifting boundaries and rules Eastern Congo’s been beset by violence for decades and the Okapi Reserve’s endured years of unrest by local militia. In 2012, in Epulu town, a local rebel group slaughtered several residents including two rangers, as well as 14 okapis, the latter were part of a captive breeding program. The reserve’s also been threatened by artisanal — small scale — mining, by thousands of Indigenous peoples who live in and around the forest. The Muchacha mine — the biggest in the reserve and one of the largest small and medium scale gold mines in the country — spans approximately 12 miles (19 kilometers) along the Ituri River and consists of several semi-industrial sites. Satellite images analyzed by AP show consistent development along the southwestern section of the Reserve, since it began operating in 2016, with a boom in recent years. Joel Masselink, a geographer specializing in satellite imagery, who previously worked on conservation projects in the forest, said the mining cadastral — the agency responsible for allocating mineral licenses — is using a version of the reserve's maps in which the area's been shrunk by nearly a third. This has allowed it to award and renew exploration and extraction concessions, he said. The mining cadastral told the U.N. that the boundaries were changed due to a letter from the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, the body in charge of protected areas in Congo, but didn’t provide a copy, said a report from U.N. experts. The ICCN told the AP it's never seen the letter and the boundaries used should be the original ones. Changing World Heritage Site boundaries needs to be approved by UNESCO experts and the World Heritage Committee, which analyze the impact of the modification, a spokesperson for the World Heritage Center told AP. The Center said no request to modify the Reserve's boundaries had been made and that cases of boundary modifications to facilitate development were rare. Landslide kills 12 women at illegal gold mine in Indonesia Civil society groups in Congo accuse some government officials of intentionally moving the boundaries for personal gain. “We all knew that Muchacha was within the reserve,” said Alexis Muhima, executive director of the Congolese Civil Society Observatory for Peace Minerals. He said the discrepancy over the park's boundaries started when they realized the mine was producing large quantities of gold. The U.N. report said mines are controlled by the military, and some members are under the protection of powerful business and political interests, with soldiers at times denying local officials access to the sites. Residents, who once mined in the reserve, are infuriated by the double standard. “The community is worried, because the Chinese are mining in a protected area when it's forbidden for the community,” said Jean Kamana, the chief of Epulu, a village inside the Reserve. Despite being a protected forest, people still mined there until authorities cracked down, largely after the Chinese arrived. Kimia Mining grants limited access to locals to mine areas for leftovers, but for a fee that many can't afford, say locals. Muvunga Kakule used to do artisanal mining in the reserve while also selling food from his farm to other miners. The 44-year-old said he's now unable to mine or sell produce as the Chinese don't buy locally. He's lost 95% of his earnings and can no longer send his children to private school. Some residents told The AP there are no other options for work and have been forced to mine secretly and risk being jailed. Losing land, animals and income During a trip to the reserve earlier this year, Kimia Mining wouldn’t let AP enter the site and the government wouldn't grant access to patrol the forest with its rangers. But nearly two dozen residents, as well as former and current Kimia Mining employees from villages in and around the Reserve, told The AP the mining was decimating the forests and the wildlife and contaminating the water and land. Five people who had worked inside Kimia's mines, none of whom wanted to be named for fear of reprisal, said when the Chinese finished in one area, they leave exposed, toxic water sources. Sometimes people would fall into uncovered pits and when it rains, water seeps into the soil. Employees and mining experts say the Chinese use mercury in its operations, used to separate gold from ore. Mercury is considered one of the top ten chemicals of major public health concern by the U.N. and can have toxic effects on the nervous and immune systems. One 27-year-old woman who worked as a cook for Kimia for six months and lives in Badengaido town, close to the mine, said the soil has become infertile. “(It's) poisoned by chemicals used by the Chinese," she said. The AP could not independently verify her claim. However, a report from the University of Antwerp that researched the impact of conflict and mining on the Reserve said chemicals used to purify gold, such as mercury or cyanide, can enter the ecosystems and pollute the soil. In the past, 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of peanut seeds would yield approximately 30 bags, but now it’s hard to get three, she said. The loss of income has made it challenging to afford school and medical care for her siblings. Assana, a fisher who also worked in the mines and only wanted to use his first name, said it now takes four days to catch the same amount of fish he used to get in a day. While doing odd jobs for the company last year, the 38-year-old saw the Chinese repeatedly chop swaths of forest, making the heat unbearable, he said. Between last January and May, the reserve lost more than 480 hectares (1,186 acres) of forest cover — the size of nearly 900 American football fields — according to a joint statement from the Wildlife Conservation Society and government agencies, which said it was concerned at the findings. Aboubacar, Kimia’s spokesperson in Congo, said the company respects environmental standards and pays tax to the government for reforestation. Mining is a crucial revenue stream for Congo and it "can't place a higher value on the environment than on mining," he said. Kimia is supporting the population and has employed more than 2,000 people, said Aboubacar. Conservation is an uphill battle Conservation groups are trying to protect the reserve, but say it's hard to enforce when there's ambiguity on the legalities. “On the one hand, Congo's law clearly states that mining is illegal in protected areas. On the other hand, if a mine is operating with an official permit, then that creates confusion, and that becomes hard to enforce on the ground," said Emma Stokes, Vice President of field conservation for The Wildlife Conservation Society. The internal memo, seen by AP, outlines discussions by a joint task force between the ICCN and Congo’s mining registry, which was created to try and resolve the boundary issue. The document said it will trigger the process of stopping all mining within the Reserve and integrate the agreed upon map from the joint commission into the mining registry's system. UNESCO's requested a report from Congo by February, to provide clarity on what will be done to resolve the problem. But this comes as little comfort to communities in the reserve. Wendo Olengama, a Pygmy chief, said the influx of thousands of people into the Chinese-run mines has increased poaching, making it hard to earn money. During the authorized hunting season, he could capture up to seven animals a day, eating some and selling others. Now it's hard to get two, he said. Sitting in a small hut beside his wife, as she bounces their 3-year-old granddaughter on her lap, the couple says they want the Chinese company to provide business opportunities, such as cattle raising and teach people responsible hunting. “If the situation persists, we'll live in misery,” said his wife, Dura Anyainde. "We wont have food to eat.”

The death toll from flash floods and landslides in eastern Congo has risen to 176, with some 100 people still missing, according to a provisional assessment given by the governor and authorities in the country's South Kivu province. Rivers broke their banks in villages in the territory of Kalehe close to the shores of Lake Kivu. Authorities also reported scores of people injured. South Kivu Gov. Théo Ngwabidje visited the area to see the destruction for himself, and posted on his Twitter account that the provincial government had dispatched medical, shelter and food supplies. Several main roads to the affected area have been been made impassable by the rains, hampering the relief efforts. President Felix Tshisekedi has declared a national day of mourning on Monday to honor the victims, and the central government is sending a crisis management team to South Kivu to support the provincial government. Heavy rains in recent days have brought misery to thousands in East Africa, with parts of Uganda and Kenya also seeing heavy rainfall. Flooding and landslides in Rwanda, which borders Congo, left 129 people dead earlier this week.  

At least 22 civilians were killed by extremist rebels in eastern Congo - the group's second large-scale deadly attack of the week, local authorities said Saturday. Fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces — which has ties to the Islamic State group — attacked people in Beni territory in North Kivu province late Friday evening, said Nicolas Kambale, the mayor of Oicha commune where the attacks occurred. “The enemy killed them savagely and as we speak we have at least 22 civilians killed who are already in the morgue,” Kambale said Saturday. Violence has been simmering in eastern Congo for decades where some 120 armed groups have been fighting over land, resources, power and some to defend their communities. Attacks by rebel groups like ADF have increased recently. Since April last year, ADF attacks have killed at least 370 civilians and abducted several hundred more, including a significant number of children, according to the United Nations. The group, which originally operated in North Kivu province, has spread to neighboring Ituri province, where more than 144,000 people have been displaced between January and February, according to the U.N. Efforts by Congo’s army and Ugandan forces to push them back have yielded little results. Friday's attack came days after ADF killed more than 30 civilians, including women and children, between the Irumu and Mambasa territories in Ituri. A spokesman for Congo's army in Beni, Capt. Antony Mwalushayi, said the attack Friday was in retaliation for large-scale offensives that the military has been conducting in the area.

The Islamic State group has issued a statement claiming responsibility for killing more than 35 people and wounding dozens in eastern Congo. In the statement, posted Friday by Aamaq, the militants' news agency, it said it killed “Christians” with guns and knives and destroyed their property in Mukondi village in North Kivu province. It also published a photo of the houses on fire. The announcement comes after local authorities confirmed that at least 45 people were killed last week in several attacks on different villages by rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces, a militia with links to IS. Also Read: Bomb kills 1, wounds 5 at press award event in Afghanistan Conflict has been simmering in eastern Congo for decades as more than 120 armed groups fight for power, influence and resources, and some to protect their communities. The ADF has been largely active in North Kivu province but has recently extended its operations into neighboring Ituri province and to areas near the regional capital, Goma. Efforts to stem the violence against ADF have yielded little. A nearly year-long joint operation by Uganda and Congo’s armies did not achieve the expected results of defeating or substantially weakening the group, said a report in December by a panel of U.N. experts. The ADF rebels are accused by the U.N. and rights groups of maiming, raping and abducting civilians, including children. Earlier this month the United States offered a reward of up to $5 million for information that could lead to the capture of the group’s leader, Seka Musa Baluku. On Thursday, AP reporters saw bodies lowered into a mass grave in Mukondi. Community members shoveled dirt over the bodies against a backdrop of destroyed houses and said the government wasn't doing enough to protect them. “As you see in Mukondi, it is always the same. ADF, which is always ill-intentioned against the Congolese," said Col. Charles Ehuta Omeonga, military administrator for Beni region. “We lost many of our brothers,” he said. The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo has condemned the killings and is urging Congo’s authorities to investigate and bring those responsible to justice.

Four people participating in demonstrations against the United Nations peacekeeping mission in eastern Congo were killed Wednesday when a high-voltage power line fell on them, officials said. Their deaths came on the third day of anti-U.N. protests. At least 15 people, including three U.N. personnel, died and more than 60 people were injured during the earlier demonstrations, Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said. Andre Byadunia, a civil society coordinator in the city of Uvira in South Kivu province, said the four demonstrators were electrocuted when a power cable gave way in the Kilomoni district. Uvira Deputy Mayor Kyky Kifara confirmed the incident and said he was at the demonstration site when the cable fell. He said he thinks the death toll could have been higher if police and security forces had not already dispersed the crowd. “I was there, I’ve been there since morning. There was a bullet that cut a high-voltage wire. I almost died myself. Luckily, I barely escaped,” Kifara said. Khassim Diagne, acting head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission, said later in the day that in the protests Monday and Tuesday, seven Congolese civilians were killed in Butembo in North Kivu province along with one U.N. peacekeeper from Morocco and two U.N. policemen from India. Five people were killed in eastern Congo’s main city, Goma, including an army officer hit by a stray bullet, he said. Diagne said in a virtual news conference from the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, called the situation “fragile,” and said reinforcements from the United Nations and Congolese forces were securing U.N. bases and installations. He welcomed a strong statement by the governor of North Kivu on Tuesday night banning protests and calling on demonstrators to move out of the streets. While some demonstrators were peaceful, there were also criminals and looters who were photographed walking out of a U.N. warehouse with bags of rice and dry goods, Diagne said. Protesters accuse the peacekeepers of failing to protect civilians amid rising violence and are calling for the U.N. forces that have been in Congo for years to leave. The mission has more than 16,000 uniformed personnel in Congo, according to the U.N. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the violence, calling on the government to enforce justice on the perpetrators. He also underscored that any attack directed at U.N. peacekeepers might constitute a war crime. The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday strongly condemned the attacks and peacekeeper deaths and called for “calm and dialogue to resolve current tensions and to ensure protection of civilians." It also underscored the Congolese government's primary responsibility for the safety and security of U.N. peacekeepers and U.N. assets. Diagne said the United Nations will investigate the killings of the three members of the U.N. peacekeeping mission and seek to bring the perpetrators to justice. Read:15 killed, 50 injured in anti-UN protests in Congo’s east He said the U.N. has seen reports that U.N. troops were firing at civilians, but has no evidence of it. This is why the U.N. wants a joint investigation of the civilian deaths with the government, including an examination of the bullets, “to determine exactly where the shooting came from,” Diagne said. Congo’s mineral-rich east is home to myriad rebel groups. Security has worsened there despite a year of emergency operations by a joint force of the armies of Congo and Uganda. Civilians in the east have faced violence from jihadi rebels linked to the Islamic State group. In June 2021 and June 2022, the peacekeeping mission closed its office in Congo’s Kasai Central and Tanganyika regions. U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the U.N. made plans to draw down its peacekeeping force and even withdraw from Congo but the force remained because the situation on the ground was too dangerous to contemplate its departure. The U.N. has reduced the number of provinces it operates in from 10 in the early 2000s to three today, Daigne said. Fighting has escalated between Congolese troops and the M23 rebels, forcing nearly 200,000 people to flee their homes. The M23 forces have demonstrated increased firepower and defense capabilities, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. The protests are taking place after Senate President Modeste Bahati told his supporters that the U.N. mission should “pack its bags,” saying the peacekeepers have brought no solutions to deter the thousands of deaths at the hands of rebels in eastern Congo. Augustin Kalume, a political analyst in Congo, said that while the demonstrations have a political element, there is also genuine anger as “every passing population continues to count deaths, and the looting of natural resources.” “The population is fed up that despite the millions of dollars that the U.N. mission has cost, these peacekeepers are unable to restore peace and security in the eastern part of Congo,” Kalume said. Diagne was asked whether he thought the Congolese people wanted the U.N. mission to remain and replied “absolutely.” He cited messages saying it would be a disaster if the U.N. left, but he said the peacekeeping mission needs to better communicate what it does. The U.N. children’s agency said Wednesday that many children were manipulated into joining the demonstrations, where they were exposed to violence. “UNICEF condemns the instrumentalization of children for political purposes and calls on authorities, members of civil society and parents to keep children safe from protests in order to protect them,” Grant Leaity, the UNICEF representative in Congo, said.

Rebels attacked a hospital in Congo and killed at least 13 people, including infants and patients, according to hospital and military officials. The Congolese army said three attackers were killed when the military intervened. Also read:Suicide bomber attacks bar in eastern Congo, killing 6 Some hospital staff are missing and several houses were burned in the attack Thursday night on the medical center in Lume, North Kivu province. It's the largest health facility in the region. Among those killed in the attack were three infants and four patients, hospital chief Kule Bwenge told reporters. “Four blocks of the medical center were set on fire. Several sick guards, as well as a nurse, are missing,” he said. The reason for targeting the hospital was unclear. In the nearby village of Kidolo, four other people were killed with machetes and shot, apparently as part of the same attack. North Kivu military spokesman Anthony Mualushayi said the attackers were Mai-Mai militia members from the Dido group. In addition to the attackers who were killed, one was captured in the ensuing clashes, he said. But local civic groups accused rebels of the Uganda-based Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, of carrying out the attack. ADF rebels have been active in eastern Congo for decades and have killed thousands in the region since they resurfaced in 2013. Other attacks were reported last week in the nearby towns of Bulongo and Kilya, also in North Kivu.   North Kivu is in eastern Congo and borders Uganda and Rwanda. Eastern Congo sees daily threats from armed groups battling for the region’s rich mineral wealth, which the world mines for electric cars, laptops and mobile phones.

Congo’s M23 rebels closed in on a major military camp in the country’s east on Thursday after days of fighting the army, officials said. Clashes continued Thursday at the Rumangabo base in the Rutshuru area of North Kivu province about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the provincial capital, Goma. “There is no truce. The fighting is still continuing this morning on the same fronts as yesterday,” deputy army spokesman Gen. Sylvain Ekenge said. Gunfire exchanges have been heard there since early in the morning, said Manouvo Nguka, who lives in Rumangabo where the base is located. “The army seeks to regain full control of Rumangabo,” he told The Associated Press. The situation has been critical since Wednesday night, he added. “There was more than an hour of exchange of fire between the loyalist army and the M23 rebels,” he said. Also Read: After suicide bombing, Congo officials fear more attacks The army earlier confirmed the rebels also attacked its positions in the Nyragongo and Rutshuru areas. More than 20 shells were fired by the rebels on Tuesday and Wednesday on Rumangabo, Natale, near the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, and the surrounding area, according to a statement from military spokesman Lt. Gen. Constant Ndima. The M23 is largely an ethnic Tutsi group opposed to the Congo government that started in 2012 and seized control of Goma, a city of more than 1 million for nearly a month. U.N. forces and Congo’s army dislodged the M23 from Goma and many of rebels fled to Rwanda and Uganda before a 2013 peace agreement. Rwanda and Uganda deny claims that they support M23. The group has recently resurfaced with increasing attacks in eastern Congo. It accuses the Congo government of not respecting the commitments it made to integrate rebel fighters into the national army. Gen. Benoit Chavanat, Deputy Force Commander of the United Nations mission in Congo, said its forces are backing the Congolese army against M23. He told U.N.-backed Radio Okapi the joint forces are stabilizing the situation in the Tchanzu, Runyonyi and Bunagana areas.     Pope Francis is expected to visit Congo at the beginning of July, including a trip to Goma to celebrate Mass and meet with war victims, according to Congolese authorities. However, the Vatican did not immediately respond when asked Thursday whether the current fighting would bring the pope to alter his plans.  

A military court in Congo has condemned about 50 people to death nearly five years after the murders of United Nations investigators Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan in central Congo’s Kasai region. The President of the Kasai Occidental Military Court, Brig. Gen. Jean-Paulin Ntshayokolo said Saturday that of the 54 defendants, one officer is sentenced to 10 years for violating orders and two others were acquitted. Those sentenced to death will serve out life sentences, as Congo has observed a moratorium on the death penalty since 2003. Sharp of the United States and Catalan of Sweden were assassinated on March 12, 2017 in the Kasai Central region while on a field visit with representatives of Kamwina Nsapu, a militia active in Kasai whose customary chief Jean-Pierre Mponde was killed by Congolese army troops in August 2016. Sharp, the panel’s coordinator and expert on armed groups, and Catalan, a humanitarian expert, embarked on the field visit from Kananga, the provincial capital of Kasai Central, toward the locality of Bunkonde. The two U.N. experts were investigating the violence in Kasai on behalf of the U.N. Security Council. Their bodies were then found in a shallow grave two weeks later. READ: After suicide bombing, Congo officials fear more attacks The Congolese government obtained a cellphone video showing them being killed and blame members of the Kamwina Nsapu militia. Col. Jean de Dieu Mambweni was sentenced to 10 years Saturday of failing to assist a person in danger. No other military leaders were sentenced. The military court, however, acquitted journalist Trudon Raphaël Kapuku and police officer Honoré Tshimbamba. Both were arrested separately in 2018 and have spent 4 years in prison. Thomas Fessy, Human Rights Watch’s senior researcher on Congo, said that despite the verdicts, there are still more questions than answers nearly five years after these murders. “The investigation and ultimately this trial have failed to uncover the full truth about what happened. Congolese authorities, with U.N. support, should now investigate the critical role that senior officials may have played in the murders,” he said via Twitter. Sweden’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ann Linde, also said investigations must continue. “Crucial that investigation concerning others involved continues to further uncover truth and bring justice. We encourage authorities to fully cooperate with the U.N. mechanism,” she said via Twitter.

Authorities in eastern Congo announced an evening curfew and new security checkpoints Sunday, fearing more violence after a suicide bomber killed five people in the first attack of its kind in the region. Beni Mayor Narcisse Muteba, a police colonel, warned hotels, churches and bars in the town of Beni that they needed to add security guards with metal detectors because “terrorists” could strike again. “We are asking people to be vigilant and to avoid public places during this festive period," Muteba told The Associated Press on Sunday. Read: Suicide bomber attacks bar in eastern Congo, killing 6 Brig. Gen. Constant Ndima, the military governor of North Kivu province, said there will be a 7 p.m. curfew, as well as more road checkpoints. Officials initially said the death toll was six plus the suicide bomber, but they revised that figure a day later to five victims. Thirteen others remained hospitalized after the blast at the entrance to the Inbox restaurant on Christmas Day. Saturday's bloodshed dramatically deepened fears that Islamic extremism has taken hold in Beni. The town already has suffered years of attacks by rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, who trace their origins to neighboring Uganda. Officials have blamed the latest attack on those rebels, whose exact links to international extremist groups have been murky. The Islamic State's Central Africa Province has claimed responsibility for attacks blamed on ADF, but it is unknown what role exactly the larger organization may have played in organizing and financing the attacks. There have been worrying signs that religious extremism was escalating around Beni: Two local imams were killed earlier this year within weeks of each other, one of whom had spoken out against the ADF. Then in June, the Islamic State group’s Central Africa Province claimed responsibility for a suicide bomber who blew himself up near a bar in Beni without harming others. Another explosion that same day at a Catholic church wounded two people. Read:South Africa's case drop may show omicron peak has passed There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday's attack, in which authorities say the bomber ultimately was stopped from entering the crowded restaurant. After the blast near the entrance, blood stained the pavement and mangled chairs lay strewn near the entrance. Rachel Magali, who had been at the restaurant with her sister-in-law and several others, described hearing a loud noise and then people starting to cry. “We rushed to the exit where I saw people lying down," she told the AP. "There were green plastic chairs scattered everywhere and I also saw heads and arms no longer attached. It was really horrible.”

A suicide bomber attacked a restaurant and bar Saturday as patrons gathered on Christmas Day, killing at least six others in an eastern Congolese town where Islamic extremists are known to be active. Heavy gunfire rang out shortly after the bomb went off, with panicked crowds fleeing the town’s center. Saturday’s attack marked the first known time that a suicide bomber has killed victims in eastern Congo, where an Islamic State group affiliate earlier this year took responsibility for a suicide bombing near another bar in Beni who had caused no other casualties. The latest violence only deepens fear that religious extremism has taken hold in a region already plagued for years by rebels. Gen. Sylvain Ekenge, spokesperson for the governor of North Kivu, said that security guards had blocked the bomber from entering the crowded bar and so the person instead detonated the explosives at the entrance. “We call on people to remain vigilant and to avoid crowded areas during the holiday season,” he said in a statement. “In the city and territory of Beni, it is difficult, in these times to know who is who.” READ: Suicide bomber in SW Pakistan kills 8 at Islamist rally Rachel Magali had been at the restaurant-bar for about three hours with her sister-in-law and several others when she heard a loud noise outside. “Suddenly we saw black smoke surrounding the bar and people started to cry,” she told The Associated Press. “We rushed to the exit where I saw people lying down. There were green plastic chairs scattered everywhere and I also saw heads and arms no longer attached. It was really horrible.” Among the dead were two children, according to Mayor Narcisse Muteba, who is also a police colonel. At least 13 other people were wounded and taken to a local hospital. “Investigations are underway to find the perpetrators of this terrorist attack,” he told The Associated Press. The town has long been targeted by rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, a group that traces its origins to neighboring Uganda. But in June the Islamic State group’s Central Africa Province said it was behind the suicide bomber and another explosion that same day at a Catholic church that wounded two people. READ: Suicide bomber attacks Indonesian police station, injuring 6 Residents of the town have repeatedly expressed anger over the ongoing insecurity despite an army offensive and the presence of U.N. peacekeepers in Beni. From 2018 to 2020, the town also suffered through an Ebola epidemic that became the second deadliest in history. More than 2,200 people died in eastern Congo as vaccination efforts were at times thwarted by insecurity in the area.