At Least 5 Killed in Suicide Bomb Attack in DR Congo

Congolese local officials said that a suicide bomber murdered at least five people in a busy nightclub in Beni, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on Saturday.

Officials blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia, one of the region's deadliest armed groups and the Islamic State's central Africa branch.

"The suicide bomber, unable to gain admission to the packed bar due to security, detonated the explosives at the entrance," military officials in North Kivu province stated in a statement.

Another 13 inpiduals were being treated in hospitals for their wounds, according to the statement, which described the death toll as "provisional."

Narcisse Muteba, the colonel in charge of the city during the state of emergency in the east of the country, had issued an appeal for citizens to return to their homes for their own safety shortly after the bomb.

At the location of the explosion, the In Box restaurant, an AFP correspondent observed the remains of three victims. The blast site was littered with the remains of tables, chairs, bottles, and glasses.

Two children, as well as two local officials, were among the dead, according to a city hall source.