KIGALI, Rwanda

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s army said Tuesday that it killed a senior member of the M23 rebel group during military operations in the eastern part of the country.

In a post on the US social media company X’s platform, the army described Willy Ngoma, the M23 group’s military spokesperson, as a “terrorist.”

The “Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) confirm that the terrorist Willy Ngoma has been successfully neutralized during military operations,” it said.

“The FARDC remain determined to dismantle all terrorist networks and to restore peace and security across the entire national territory.”

The military did not provide details. But sources said Ngoma was killed in a military drone strike Tuesday around 2.40 a.m. local time near the mining town of Rubaya in North Kivu’s Masisi territory.

The strike reportedly targeted a residential house located around a farm belonging to another rebel leader, Gen. Innocent Gahizi.

The M23 has not commented so far about the death of Ngoma.

However, rebel spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka in a post on X earlier Tuesday said that since “2:43 a.m., drones from the coalition forces of the Kinshasa regime” had “been indiscriminately bombing the town of Rubaya, spreading terror and massacring innocent civilians.”

Separately, a pro-government militia known as Wazalendo in a statement said Ngoma was killed along with several other senior officers and escort members of rebel leaders, including the M23-appointed governor of North Kivu, Bahati Musanga Erasto, and Colonel Olivier Nzenze.

It added that other high-ranking officials of the M23 including Gen. Sultani Makenga, the group’s military leader, were “present in the area with a significant stock of military equipment.”

Ngoma was among three Congolese figures sanctioned in December 2023 by the US for his involvement in the conflict in Congo.

Washington said he was sanctioned for his role in the group’s serious human rights violations, including killings and sexual violence against civilians.

US authorities cited acts perpetrated in November 2022 in Kishishe in North Kivu province.

The M23 has been at the center of the conflict in eastern Congo. Since the rebel group resurfaced in late 2021, it has scored a series of battlefield victories, capturing several strategic towns in eastern provinces, including the provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu seized early in 2025.

The Congo, UN and Western nations accuse Rwanda of supporting the group, which Kigali denies.

Despite an Angola-proposed ceasefire declared this month effective Feb. 18, clashes intensified between government forces and AFC/M23 rebels in recent days in eastern Congo, displacing thousands of people from their homes, according to civil society groups.

There have been counter accusations of violations of the ceasefire.