Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has condemned the escalating violence in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where civilians are suffering from brutal attacks.
The province, rich in gold, has long been embroiled in conflict between ethnic militias and the Islamic State-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
MSF reported a recent surge in violence, with medical teams treating victims of horrific injuries.
The attacks have displaced around 100,000 people since the start of 2025, and more than 200 individuals were killed in the first two months of the year alone, according to UN figures.
The charity highlighted that more than half of those it treated in Bunia, the provincial capital, were women and children.
In February, MSF treated children as young as four and pregnant women for machete and gunshot wounds caused by militia assaults.
Healthcare facilities have also been targeted.
MSF stated that armed groups had forced a hospital to suspend operations, and other health centers had been destroyed in the violence.
The ongoing crisis in Ituri is marked by constant displacement, as civilians are forced to rebuild their lives time and again.
MSF warned that the true scale of the suffering is far greater than the cases they are able to document.
Ituri has faced ethnic-based militia conflict since 1999, with thousands killed before a European intervention in 2003.
The Ugandan military, deployed to the region in 2021 to combat the ADF, has also recently launched operations against another militia, Codeco.
