IT is a “dark day” for everyone fighting the deadly Ebola outbreak after rebels shot and killed two medical agents with the Congolese army, Congo’s health minister announced late Saturday.

This appears to be the first time health workers have been killed by rebels in this outbreak, which is taking place in what has been compared to a war zone. Multiple rebel groups are active in Congo’s far northeast.

Mai Mai rebels surged from the forest and opened fire on the unarmed agents with the army’s rapid intervention medical unit at an entrance to Butembo city, the health ministry said.

The daytime attack appeared premeditated, with civilians present left unharmed, the statement said. The medical agents had been placed in “dangerous zones” to assist national border health officials.

Confirmed Ebola cases have now reached 200, including 117 deaths.

Aid groups have expressed alarm after the insecurity and sometimes hostile community resistance led the rate of new cases to more than double this month.

Health workers in this outbreak, declared Aug. 1, have described hearing gunshots daily, operating under the armed escort of U.N. peacekeepers or Congolese security forces and having to end work by sundown to lower the risk of attack.

Congo’s health ministry has reported “numerous aggressions” against health workers, and early this month two Red Cross volunteers were severely injured in a confrontation with wary community members in a region traumatized by decades of fighting and facing an Ebola outbreak for the first time.

(SD-Agencies)