Carly Nzanzu Kasivita, the governor of North Kivu, has said eight people have died after a Friday night shootout in one of Goma’s working-class neighborhoods in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The identities of the gunmen who fled are yet to be established.
Goma is the capital of North Kivu province, DRC. The town is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, and it borders Gisenyi, a Rwandan City.
Narrating the ordeal, the governor said two people arrived on a motorbike at a barbershop, shot two people, and then made away with some phones. Before they fled, they fired randomly at the people nearby, resulting in eight deaths.
Nzanzu further added that the shooting took place in Ndosho, a remote district situated at the city’s exit towards the Nyarangogo volcano, at 1700GMT.
This is not the first time Goma has experienced such a shootout. In early May 2018, shooters went on a shooting spree and killed seven civilians and leaving 22 people wounded.
Again in mid-February 2019, shooters killed eight people in three Goma districts in one night. It was reported that in the February incident, the gunmen were shooting at passers-by.
In March 2019, another six people were killed by unknown gunmen in the Ndosho neighborhood. The six included five civilians and one soldier. As of mid-March last year, 25 people had been killed by unknown gunmen in a string of shootings in Goma.
North Kivu region has experienced decades of violence, propagated by armed militia groups and gangs after territorial and natural resources control.
Authorities are looking into the current shoot out to try and establish the identities of the gunmen.
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