A soldier in the Democratic Republic of Congo shot three people dead and wounded two more in the country’s volatile east, the army said Friday.

The shootings were carried out “at point-blank range”, the army said in a statement, adding that the suspected killer “has been arrested and handed to military justice to answer for the acts”.

The soldier had been in the rural Minembwe district in South Kivu province, scene of an armed conflict between Rwandan-speaking Tutsi Congolese, known as the Banyamulenge, and other communities.

The identity of the victims remain unknown.

Just a week ago, a Congolese soldier was sentenced to death by a military court in the same province for murdering 14 civilians, including a two-year-old girl.

Death penalties are no longer carried out in DR Congo, instead being commuted to life imprisonment.

The soldier in that case admitted to his crimes, with his lawyer saying that he had been “drunk” during the shootings.(AFP via Channels)