Blasts, gunfire kill several at M23 rally in eastern DR Congo

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One of the top commanders of the armed group’s (DRC) armies was present at a rally for the M23 rebel group and their supporters, and explosions have erupted in a major city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

According to the AFP news agency, attendees fled the area after the first explosion in Bukavu on Thursday, sparking a second explosion. According to residents, gunfire followed the explosions.

People ran through the streets, some bleeding and carrying limp bodies, video showed. Residents reported seeing dead people, but there was no immediate information on the number of injuries.

M23 commander Corneille Nangaa, the Congo River Alliance’s leader, had the first access to the meeting since his forces seized control of the region’s second-largest city nearly two weeks ago.

Nangaa, who is not credited with injuring any senior rebel commanders, blamed DRC President Felix Tshisekedi without providing any supporting evidence, to a phone interview with Reuters news agency. There was no immediate comment from the government.

One of the two important cities in the region that M23 fighters, according to UN experts, have supported Rwanda in recent weeks, have taken control of.

The armed group has reopened ports and schools in an effort to demonstrate that it can restore order in the territory it has taken from the DRC’s army.

M23 fighters have swept through the eastern DRC, seizing key cities and killing about 7, 000 people. Additionally, there have been reports of children being abused sexually and drafted as soldiers by minors.

The rebel advance has stirred fears of a regional war that could draw in the DRC’s neighbours, including Rwanda.

The eastern DRC’s genocide, which was the result of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, and the struggle for control of the country’s vast mineral resources, have been the focus of the advance, which has been described as the gravest escalation in more than a decade.