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.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"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.