The Democratic Republic of Congo has grappled with insecurity for years now. / Photo: AP

The death toll from a deadly May 3 attack on a camp for displaced people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has risen, with a minister saying 35 people were killed.

A camp official had earlier put fatalities at 15 but social affairs minister Modeste Mutinga Mutushayi said in Goma that "today it is fixed at 35 with 37 injured."

The mainly Tutsi-led M23 resumed its armed campaign in the DRC in 2021 and has seized swathes of territory.

Mutushayi was in Goma with a delegation from the capital Kinshasa looking into the attack.

Unrest spills over

After the attack on the camp at Mugunga, on the western edge of Goma, capital of North Kivu province, officials had initially given a provisional death toll of nine, including several children, with some 30 injured.

In the following days, and before Mutushayi's comments, the toll had risen to 14 before camp officials raised it to 15.

The unrest has spilled over amid the current offensive into the neighbouring province of South Kivu, where a bombing raid which authorities blamed on M23 killed seven people on Tuesday.

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AFP