5 killed as hundreds of gunmen attack mining hub in Congo

Hundreds of gunmen attacked official installations in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s southern mining hub of Lubumbashi before being repelled by soldiers, the government said. The attack on the capital of the central African nation’s copper and cobalt-rich Katanga province targeted a military camp and the provincial governor’s office, sending the city’s residents fleeing home. The Congolese authorities were still attempting to identify the gunmen after some witnesses said they appeared to belong to one of Congo’s mystical Mai Mai armed militia groups. A resident said he had seen the bodies of five attackers killed by gunshots near the governor’s office. He said the group wore traditional magical fetishes and had attempted to hoist the flag of Katanga’s short-lived 1960s-era independent republic before members of the army’s elite Republican Guard launched a counter-attack against them. Soldiers continued to occupy important locations throughout the city in the late afternoon as traffic began to circulate again. Katanga now hosts many international mining companies, including Freeport McMoRan and commodities trader Glencore, and exports around half a million metric tons of copper each year.