The United States has accused Rwanda of involvement in a deadly attack on a camp for displaced people in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a claim dismissed as “absurd” by Kigali on Saturday.

People gather at the site of an explosion in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo,

At least nine people were killed in blasts on Friday in the camp on the outskirts of the city of Goma, local sources said.

“The United States strongly condemns the attack (Friday) from Rwanda Defense Forces and M23 positions on the Mugunga camp for internally displaced persons in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

Miller said the United States was “gravely concerned” by the expansion in DR Congo of Rwandan forces and the M23, a mostly Tutsi group that resumed its armed campaign in the vast, turbulent DR Congo in 2021.

“It is essential that all states respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and hold accountable all actors for human rights abuses in the conflict in eastern DRC,” he said.

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DR Congo government spokesman Patrick Muyaya on Friday had also accused “the Rwandan army and its M23 terrorist supporters” of being responsible in a statement on X, the former Twitter.

Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo described the US comments as “ridiculous”, in a post on X.

“How do you come to this absurd conclusion? The RDF, a professional army, would never attack an IDP camp,” she said.

“Look to the lawless FDLR and Wazalendo supported by the FARDC (the Congolese armed forces), for this kind of atrocity,” she added.