Two violent attacks on treatment centers in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the last week have left the international aid agency Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) with “no choice” but to suspend work to contain the Ebola outbreak.

The organisation was at the forefront of efforts to contain the growing Ebola epidemic in the DRC, the worst in the country's history, which has so far caused 553 deaths.

But violent attacks in the volatile region, which has been at the centre of conflict fueled by ethnic rivalries and territorial disputes for more than two decades, have made attempts to control the highly contagious disease even more difficult.

Earlier this week, an Ebola treatment centre in the town of Katwa was partially burnt down, destroying medical equipment and patients wards and killing a caretaker, seemingly while he was fleeing the scene.

Then in a second attack on Wednesday night in the nearby city of Butembo, assailants tried to set fire to a health centre with almost 60 patients inside - 15 of whom were confirmed to have Ebola.

Dr Michel Yao, the incident manager for the World Health Organization, told The Telegraph he found bullet holes in the building’s walls the next morning.