Local authorities reported Tuesday that militia fighters conducted an extreme assault which murdered 55 civilians in villages along with a displaced persons camp based in northeastern Congo. CODECO militant fighters conducted their deadly assault which occurred during Monday night against Djaiba group of villages in Ituri province.
Camp leader Antoinnette Nzale predicts higher casualties because remaining bodies continue to appear in burned structures. Most of the victims among the displaced community suffered deadly mutilation at the hands of CODECO militia who used machetes and firearms to murder them.
The Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO) functions as an infamous militia organization that bases its membership mainly on ethnic Lendu farmers. The United Nations states that the recent attacks by CODECO militia running into 1,800 deaths since 2014 may qualify as war crimes alongside crimes against humanity. 
The chief of Bahema Badjere district confirmed these events to reporters while discussing the inability of security forces comprising U.N. peacekeepers and Congolese troops to defend their position against the attackers.
The violence in eastern Congo continues to grow worse because more than 120 militant groups struggle to seize control of both the land and mineral resources in their territory. Rwanda-backed rebels executed a successful raid on Goma which brought additional chaos to the area during the previous month.
No cessation of the ongoing conflict presumes that the international community needs to step forward and stop the ongoing atrocities in this devastated nation.
