<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Militants have killed seven civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials said on Sunday, in the latest attack to hit the turbulent region.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">CODECO militiamen attacked an army position in the Djukoth area of Ituri province's Mahagi territory on Saturday evening, according to local Red Cross worker.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ituri province is one of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's violence hotspots, where attacks claiming dozens of lives are routine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Seven civilians were killed near the position, said the official, who declined to be named. Five children and two women were among the dead.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Innocent Wabekudu, a community leader in Mahagi, also said that CODECO fighters had "savagely killed" seven people, who were buried on Sunday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Congolese army spokesman for military operations in Ituri, Lieutenant Jules Ngongo, was not immediately available for comment about details of the attack.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Armed groups have plagued mineral-rich eastern DR Congo for three decades, a legacy of regional wars that flared in the 1990s and 2000s.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The CODECO, or or Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, claims to protect the Lendu community from another ethnic group, the Hema, as well as the DRC army. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>