China condemns attacks in DR Congo and urges response

China strongly condemned a militia attack against a China-funded private enterprise in the Democratic Republic of Congo and urged the country to hunt down perpetrators, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

It's reported that a militia attack on Wednesday on a mining site in the gold-rich Ituri province has killed at least four Chinese nationals in the northeastern DRC.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a daily news briefing that the armed attack resulted in the death and disappearance of several Chinese nationals.

China is in close communication with the DRC and is making every effort to search for the missing Chinese nationals, she said.

China demands that the DRC arrests the perpetrators as quickly as possible, seriously punish them in accordance with the law, and take practical and effective measures to step up the protection of the security of Chinese nationals and enterprises, she added.

As the security situation in the northeastern DRC has been severe for a long time, Mao reminded Chinese nationals to closely follow and attach great importance to the security alerts from China's Foreign Ministry.

Chinese nationals should avoid traveling to high-risk areas, and evacuate from such areas as soon as possible if already there, she said.