Overnight air raids from Tuesday into Wednesday left several people dead in the strategic eastern city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a city currently under the control of the Rwanda-backed March 23 Movement (M23), sources told Agence France-Presse.
The M23 rebel group resumed its insurgency in 2021 and has since captured large parts of the mineral-rich eastern region of the country with support from Rwanda, intensifying violence in an area that has long suffered from armed conflict.
Witnesses reported hearing multiple explosions along with the buzzing of drones across several residential areas of Goma, a major provincial city located close to the Rwandan border. The rebels captured the city during a rapid military offensive in 2025.
A drone reportedly struck a location within Goma, with one device said to have landed on the residence of an employee of UNICEF, according to a correspondent from Africanews.
The Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC/M23) claimed that the drone involved in the strike was launched by the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Authorities in Kinshasa have not yet issued a response to the allegation.
At this point, officials have not released a confirmed casualty figure, though reports indicate that the destruction caused by the strike is extensive.
Humanitarian organisations said several buildings were hit in the attack and that multiple fatalities had been recorded by Wednesday morning.
One of the affected houses suffered severe damage, with sections burned and the roof largely destroyed, an AFP journalist at the location observed.
Fragments from the explosion also struck nearby structures, shattering windows in surrounding buildings.
An aid worker living near the targeted residence told AFP he first heard the sound of a drone before a powerful blast tore through the building, leaving what he described as a large hole in its roof.
Emergency responders, staff members from the United Nations, and representatives of the M23 were seen at the scene on Wednesday morning.