GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) — Fighting between government troops and the Rwanda-backed M23 militia has been raging for days in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where an Ebola epidemic is spreading, security sources and locals said Monday.

The mineral-rich region has been scarred by violence from various armed groups for more than three decades. Since 2021, the M23 has seized swathes of territory and fighting has stepped up since the start of 2025.

It is also ground zero for an Ebola outbreak which has sparked an international health alert by the World Health Organization (WHO). The illness has caused 204 deaths and 867 suspected cases, according to a toll given over the weekend by the DRC’s health ministry.

The security and local sources said the recent combat has been taking place in Masisi, an area in North Kivu province, which lies south of the Ituri province, the epicenter of the Ebola epidemic.

On Monday, North Kivu’s  deputy governor, Didier Lomoyo, said mortar fire had been aimed at the strategic airport at Kisangani, used by Congolese troops, while a police source on the ground told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that two drones had been intercepted “without causing any damage.”

In recent months, M23 has repeatedly targeted the airport, from which military aircraft belonging to Kinshasa’s forces take off.

Local sources have reported several air strikes in localities in North Kivu and South Kivu in recent days, but AFP has not been able to confirm the casualty figures from these strikes with independent sources.

Meanwhile, the Uganda Red Cross Society is poised to assist the Ministry of Health in transporting suspected cases to treatment centers and conducting safe, dignified burials following confirmed positive results. This action comes after the confirmation of three additional Ebola Bundibugyo cases , raising the total to five linked to travelers from the neighboring DRC, where an outbreak has claimed 119 lives among 904 suspected cases. The WHO has classified this outbreak in both the DRC and Uganda as a public health emergency of international concern.