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The
group and an army spokesman blamed the attack on CODECO, one of
many militias operating in Congo's conflict-ridden east.
CODECO's fighters are drawn mainly from the Lendu farming
community, which has long been in conflict with Hema herders.
The group could not be reached for comment.
"We have been alerted that CODECO militiamen killed people again
in the Bahema-Nord chiefdom. Our forces are on the ground
pursuing the enemy," said Jules Ngongo, Congolese army spokesman
for Ituri province. He did not give a death toll.
The provisional toll is 12 dead and two injured, said Dieudonne
Lossa, president of the Ituri province civil society chapter,
which monitors killings.
In the worst attack so far this year, CODECO killed around 60
people at a displaced persons camp in February.
Congo's government declared martial law in Ituri and
neighbouring North Kivu province more than a year ago in an
effort to quell the violence, but deadly raids have surged since
then.
(Reporting by Erikas Mwisi Kambale; Writing by Nellie Peyton;
Editing by Alex Richardson)
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