Suicide bomber kills 6 in Congolese region beset by Islamist violence

A suicide bomber detonated his device outside a restaurant in the Congolese city of Beni Saturday, killing 6 people and injuring 14 others, The Associated Press reports.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but Congolese and Ugandan forces have been waging an ongoing campaign in the region against the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamic State-affiliated Islamist terror group, since November. Général Ekenge Sylvain, a spokesperson for the region's governor, blamed the attack on an ADF "sleeper cell" but provided no evidence.

According to Sylvain, the bomber detonated his device at the entrance to the restaurant after security guards denied him entry to the crowded bar area.

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"We rushed to the exit where I saw people lying down. There were green plastic chairs scattered everywhere and I also saw heads and arms no longer attached. It was really horrible," restaurant patron Rachel Magali said.

Bombers targeted a Catholic church and a busy intersection in Beni in June, Reuters reports. No one was killed at the church, and only the bomber perished in the intersection blast.