Abandoned Explosive Device Kills Seven Farmers in Rutshuru's Gikoro

An explosive device abandoned by unidentified persons detonated on Saturday, Sept 12 near Gikoro, in the Jomba grouping of Rutshuru territory, North Kivu, killing at least seven people — six at the scene and one during evacuation — and seriously injuring more than ten others, most of them farmers working their fields. Local sources linked the unexploded ordnance to past fighting between FARDC and AFC/M23 in the area, echoing a similar fatal blast at Kakono village in October 2025 and a UN warning from April 2025 about munitions proliferation in the conflict zone.