Two candidates running for parliament in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been killed in separate incidents, just days before the general election.
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A candidate for the ruling coalition in the South Kivu province in the eastern Congo region was killed by unknown gunmen while he was returning from a campaign event on Friday evening, a regional government official told Reuters.
Another coalition candidate in Beni, in the North Kivu province, died from gunshot wounds late on Friday night when his campaign convoy was ambushed, Jeremie Muhindo, director of the Beni hospital, told Reuters.
Congo will vote in a general election on December 20. Alongside the violence, opposition parties and independent observers have warned that issues including illegible voter cards, blocked campaign planes and electoral list delays threaten the legitimacy of the results.
Human Rights Watch said in a report on Saturday that violence risks undermining the election.
"Since early October, Human Rights Watch has documented clashes across the country between supporters of rival political parties that have resulted in assaults, sexual violence and at least one death," the report said.
It added that the violence was coming both from supporters of the ruling coalition and opposition parties, and said incidents continue to be reported.
An evangelical church, the Church of Christ in Congo, said in a statement on Friday its temple in the capital Kinshasa was vandalised during violent clashes between supporters of an opposition politician and those of the ruling coalition.
Meanwhile in a shocking incident unrelated to the election, at least 11 civilians including six women were decapitated in an attack on a village in Ituri province on Friday, a deputy mayor said.
The attack has been blamed on militants linked to the Islamic State-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces, which operates in the eastern Congo region.
"There was a funeral in the village. The assailants surprised the victims while they were gathered. Eleven people were killed, others had managed to escape," Katembo Salamu, deputy mayor of Mangina municipality in Ituri, told Reuters.
Australian Associated Press
