The DR Congo Army has confirmed 1 person killed and 11 others wounded after a soldier accidentally shot a rocket-propelled grenade into a stadium in Goma, in conflict-torn eastern DR Congo.
A Congolese soldier “inadvertently” triggered his RPG in the afternoon, which landed in Goma’s Unity stadium, said army spokesman Guillaume Ndjike.
He added in a statement, that twelve people were hit in the blast, with varying degrees of injuries.
Ndjike stated that the soldier had fired the RPG while riding in a vehicle that hit a bump in the road not far from the stadium.
Unverified pictures on social media showed injured footballers and a young man soaked in blood being removed from the stadium on foot or motorbikes.
Goma’s Unity Stadium is about 30 kilometres from the frontlines separating Congolese troops from M23 rebels, who have seized swathes of North Kivu province since launching a campaign in late 2021.
Several armed groups are active in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo due to regional conflicts that raged in the 1990s and 2000s.
