BENI, Congo (AP) — 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. 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. “Suddenly we saw black smoke surrounding the bar and people started to cry,” she told The Associated Press. 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. More than 2,200 people died in eastern Congo as vaccination efforts were at times thwarted by insecurity in the area.

Source: The North Africa Journal December 26, 2021 09:41 UTC