“Five people were killed in the attack against the convoy of provincial interior minister Etshiba Mboko,” said Agnes Sadiki, the eastern region’s transport minister and government spokesperson.
Mboko – who was returning from his brother’s funeral – was unharmed but was “badly shaken” in the attack in the village of Pemba, as were four others travelling with the party, Sadiki told AFP.
“It was on the way back that the vehicle was attacked by armed men who were already attacking another vehicle,” she added.
“The two bodyguards, who tried to shoot at the bandits, were killed,” she said. “Three other people including a woman – all of them close to the minister – were also killed in this attack.”
The attack took place as a UN delegation was visiting the neighbouring province of North Kivu.
Chronically unstable eastern DRC is frequently rocked by attacks committed by armed groups and criminal gangs as well as ethnic clashes.
The provinces of North and South Kivu in particular have been ravaged by violence since the end of the 1998-2003 war in the DRC.
