BENI CONGO — A suicide bomber attacked a restaurant and bar Saturday as dozens of patrons gathered on Christmas Day killing at least six others in an
BENI, CONGO — A suicide bomber attacked a restaurant and bar Saturday as dozens of patrons gathered on Christmas Day, killing at least six others in an eastern Congolese town where Islamic extremists are known to be active. Heavy gunfire rang out shortly after the bomb went off, with panicked crowds fleeing the town’s center. Gen. Sylvain Ekenge, spokesperson for the governor of North Kivu, said that security guards had blocked the bomber from entering the crowded bar and so the person instead detonated the explosives at the entrance. ‘We call on people to remain vigilant and to avoid crowded areas during the holiday season,’ he said in a statement. ‘In the city and territory of Beni, it is difficult, in these times to know who is who.
