Islamist Rebels Kill at Least 15 in Eastern DR Congo

Monday, January 30, 2023

Melanie Gouby | AFP

Bunia, DR Congo  

A wave of attacks on villages in eastern DR Congo attributed to Islamic State-affiliated ADF rebels killed at least 15 people Sunday, local officials said.

These latest killings come a week after a similar attack left more than 20 dead.

"There were simultaneous attacks this Sunday between 4:00 and 5:00 am on three villages...," said local official Dieudonne Malangai.

"In Manyala village we found seven bodies... at Ofay, there were eight dead, including seven women," Malangai told AFP, and indicated that the final toll might be higher.

A humanitarian source confirmed seven fatalities in Manyala and "at least eight" in Ofay.

"These ADF rebels also attacked Bandibese village but ran into resistance from soldiers who intervened and so there were no civilian deaths," Malangai said after the raids on three villages in Ituri province bordering Rwanda.

"We are tired of giving the death toll day after day," he added.

ADF fighters were also blamed for last week's raids in the neighbouring province of North Kivu cost at least 23 lives while in the same province at least 14 people were killed in a bomb blast at a pentecostal church.

Islamic State portrays the ADF, which has its roots in Rwanda, as its central African incarnation.

In an attempt to stem the violence the government in May 2021 declared a state of alert in North Kivu and Ituri, replacing civil administrators with police and troops.