Gunmen kill 3 health workers in DR Congo

Armed militant groups in the restive Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo have killed three Ebola health workers and critically injured four others in an attack in the area.

The incident was confirmed by the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Ghebreyesus said a series of tweets that the attack occurred in the Biakato Mines and Mangina response centres in Ituri province.

Ebola responders in the DRC have previously been targeted by militias and people who do not believe the fatal virus is real and also have deep suspicion about how the vaccine is administered.

The DRC which is experiencing the world’s second-worst Ebola epidemic on record has continued to witness protests by angry nationals who are demonstrating against the inability of United Nations peacekeepers to keep them safe from deadly attacks.

READ ALSO: ZIMBABWE: Senior doctors join strike over sacking of 400 junior colleagues

Demonstrators in the volatile city of Goma on Wednesday reportedly blocked the main road leading to Beni further south where the first protests against the UN mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) broke out on Sunday.

On Tuesday, the WHO said it was relocating 49 staff after crowds attacked a United Nations base in the town of Beni after they accused UN forces of not protecting them from rebel attacks.

A few weeks ago a journalist who was raising awareness about Ebola in the north-eastern province of Ituri was killed and his house burnt down.

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