South Kivu province is the theatre of attacks staged by armed groups and there has been violence between locals and Chinese mining firms.

Two Chinese nationals and two others have been killed in an attack on a convoy carrying gold in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s lawless east.

Friday’s ambush targeted a four-vehicle convoy belonging to TSM Mining that was carrying gold from a site near the Kimbi river in the Fizi region of South Kivu province.

The attackers “stole parcels of gold which they took away into the bush”, said Sammy Badibanga Kalondji, an official in Fizi.

The two others killed were a soldier and a driver from the DRC.

Kalondji said three others were wounded in the attack – a Chinese mine employee and two locals, another soldier and a mine worker.

The attackers were from the neighbouring Maniema region, he said.

China is a major investor in the DRC where the Asian power dominates the lucrative mineral mining industry.

South Kivu is the theatre of several attacks staged by armed groups and there have been tensions and violence between locals and Chinese mining firms.