DAKAR, Senegal — Ebola vaccinations began Wednesday in Congo’s latest outbreak of the deadly virus that has already claimed at least nine lives.

Health officials have warned that containing the outbreak in North Kivu province is complicated by the presence of multiple armed groups vying for mineral-rich land in the northeast region.

The latest outbreak, declared Aug. 1 in Mangina village in the Mabalako health zone, is Congo’s 10th since the virus was identified in 1976.

Three thousand doses of the Ebola vaccine are being sent from Kinshasa.

associated press