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At least seven people were killed this week in clashes between rival armed groups in an area in the eastern rich in gold, local sources said on Friday.

Early on Wednesday, groups from the Banyamulenge, a Congolese Tutsi community, attacked miners working in the Fizi territory of the South Kivu province, said Kelvin Bwija, coordinator of a group called the Civil Society of Compatriots/Uvira-Fizi.

A rival armed group, an ethnic militia called the Biloze Bishambuke Self-Defence Force, then became involved, Bwija said.

"According to our toll, seven civilians were killed, 14 injured and houses burned," Bwija said.

"All the victims are artisanal diggers and their helpers."

Samuel Kabundila, head of the Mutambala district where the clashes took place, said that a woman was among the dead.

The east of the , a vast country the size of continental western Europe, has been unstable for more than a quarter of a century, gripped first by full-blown regional wars and then by marauding militias.

Armed groups typically claiming to defend ethnic groups carry out attacks on civilians and kidnappings, often clashing with rivals over valuable mining resources.