UN humanitarian agency says death toll from strikes on eastern Congo camps hits 18

The U.N. humanitarian agency, OCHA, said the death toll has surged to 18 from the initial 12 and 32 confirmed people wounded after at least five rockets fell on camps housing displaced people in the eastern Congolese city of Goma.

OCHA said in a statement that many of those who were killed in the rocket strikes were women and children.

It added that another woman was killed during a protest at one camp after the attacks.

Reuters news agency quoted military and local sources saying that the situation in Goma has been relatively peaceful this week, but fighting between M23 and the so-called Wazalendo alliance of armed groups loyal to the government resumed on Monday in the nearby Masisi area near the town of Bitonga.

The fighting and killings highlighted the worsening humanitarian aftermath of the two-year conflict between Congolese forces and the Rwanda-backed rebel group M23, which has moved closer to Goma in recent months, forcing many residents to seek refuge in the city.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United States have stated that the latest attacks were carried out from Rwandan and M23-controlled territory.

Rwanda, which denies supporting M23, has blamed forces loyal to Congo for the invasion.