At least 11 people were killed and 930 prisoners escaped today when unidentified assailants stormed a jail in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeastern town of Beni.
North Kivu’s governor Julien Paluku said in a statement that the assailants used heavy weapons, killing eight prison guards in Beni, where several militia are known to operate. A curfew is now in place, he added.
Located in the north of the troubled North Kivu province, Beni has been the scene of a wave of violence since 2014 that has seen nearly 700 civilians killed, many of them hacked to death.
