Bukavu (DR Congo) (AFP) – Two explosions that rocked a city in eastern DR Congo after a meeting of the Rwanda-backed M23 group Thursday have killed at least 11 people and wounded around 60, a hospital source told AFP.
A first explosion caused panic, sending spectators fleeing, before a second explosion detonated, with pools of blood visible and abandoned shoes strewn across the scene in the city of Bukavu.
President Felix Tshisekedi called the explosions a “henious terrorist act” in the eastern region where M23 fighters have captured swathes of territory in recent weeks in battles with the Congolese army.
An AFP journalist saw several of the wounded calling for help after the explosion, which took place following the meeting in Independence Square where thousands of people had earlier gathered.
The rally was attended by Corneille Nangaa, head of a coalition of groups that includes the M23.
He was leaving the platform where he had been speaking when the explosion sounded, an AFP journalist saw.
It was not immediately clear what the source of the explosions was.
Bukavu is one of two key cities in the turbulent region seized in recent weeks by anti-government M23 fighters who UN experts say are backed by at least 4,000 Rwandan troops.
Mineral-rich eastern DRC has been the scene of decades of relentless conflict but has been plunged into fresh turmoil as fighters from the M23 group seize tracts of territory in two provinces.
At the hospital in Bukavu, dozens of people were gathered in front of the gates waiting for news of loved ones, an AFP journalist saw.
“At the morgue, there are 11 bodies,” all of whom arrived dead, the hospital source said at Bukavu provincial general hospital.
The source added that “in terms of injuries, there are already around 60 (people)”.
A Bukavu resident speaking on condition of anonymity said he had seen “stretchers with five bodies… that have just been taken to the morgue”.
“There are also several injured people,” the witness added.