Armed bandits attacked a Chinese camp abducting five Chinese nationals working at a gold mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s conflict-plagued east on Sunday and killing a police officer, military sources said.

Major Dieudonne Kasereka, Regional Army Spokesperson said the Chinese camp in the village of Mukera in Fizi territory of South Kivu province was attacked around 2 am.

“There were 14 in total, five were taken away by the attackers to an unknown destination,” said Kaserera

The abducted men have been working in a mine around the area for the past four to five months.

According to Lusambya Wanumbe, president of the Fizi Civil Society, the company had difficulty starting its activities, due to citizen protests accusing it of not respecting the standards.