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 centre. "Suddenly we saw black smoke surrounding the bar and people started to cry," she told The Associated Press. Those explosions included the first known suicide bombing in eastern Congo, a Ugandan man who blew himself up outside of a bar. The Islamic State group's Central Africa Province later said that the suicide bomber was targeting Christians.

Source: New Zealand Herald December 25, 2021 21:11 UTC