Cameroonian doctor fighting Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo killed

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A Cameroonian doctor has been killed after a hospital in Butembo in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo came under attack.

The Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, confirmed the doctor's death in a series of posts on his official Twitter account.

Ghebreyesus said some people were injured in the attack but did not give any figures.

Butembo is the epicenter of the current Ebola outbreak which has claimed 814 lives since it was declared last August.

Ghebreyesus condemned the attack against health workers who he says are working round the clock to save lives.

WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti mourned the death of the doctor.

“I am so saddened to learn that one of our colleagues deployed to fight Ebola has been killed in DRC. My deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. May they find solace in knowing that he lost his life while trying to save others,” Moeti wrote on her Twitter account.

The attack comes two days after President Felix Tshisekedi visited Beni in eastern DR Congo where he called for the disarmament of militia that operate in the east and whose presence has complicated the Ebola response.

Following a series of attacks on treatment centres by unidentified assailants in February and March, the current outbreak is now spreading at its fastest rate yet.

More than 100 cases were confirmed last week.