Goma - Eight militants and a police officer were killed on Wednesday during an attempted attack on an Ebola treatment centre in
eastern Congo, authorities said.
"Dozens of Mai-Mai militiamen invaded Butembo's city centre and
created panic, so the armed forces and the police pushed them back," said Sylvain Kanyamanda, mayor of Butembo in the province of North Kivu.
Kanyamanda said the militants had intended to attack an Ebola centre
in the area. The virus has killed more than 1 000 people since the
outbreak - the second largest ever - began last year.
The Mai-Mai are one of numerous militia groups operating in troubled
eastern Congo, most fighting over the country's rich natural
resources.
Authorities and aid groups have struggled to control the outbreak
amid a local population suspicious of health workers and treatment
centres being attacked and burned.
Last month, a World Health Organisation epidemiologist, Richard
Mouzoko, was killed by armed men.