GOMA, Congo (AP) — Thousands of people have fled the town of Pinga in eastern Congo following renewed fighting between local armed groups, and nine members of Doctors Without Borders’ Congolese staff have gone missing, the aid group said Friday.

Jan Peter Stellema, the head of Doctors Without Borders’ operations in Goma, said civilians in the area had been facing violence regularly. “Pinga has changed hands eight times in a year and civilians are caught between a rock and a hard place,” he said.