In an assault on a community in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo early on Sunday morning, suspected Islamic militants killed at least 19 people and set a medical institution on fire, according to two local officials and a resident.
Within a few kilometres of the attack, which took place in the hamlet of Kirindera in the North Kivu province at approximately one in the morning (2300 GMT), another attack on a community that killed at least 35 people last week also took place.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed Ugandan organisation located in eastern Congo that has sworn allegiance to Islamic State and frequently performs attacks on communities, were held responsible by the army for last week’s attack. The incident on Sunday was also attributed to the ADF by a local civil society activist and a resident of a neighbouring community.
“Kirindera was surrounded by gunfire. When the ADF arrived, they burned a hospital on fire after stealing its medications, along with a hotel “says the local, Sadame Patanguli.
He said that other people who were seized by the Taliban are still missing. Two local officials verified the specifics of the destroyed structures and the number of fatalities.
The ADF, which was founded in Uganda before migrating to eastern Congo in the 1990s, has been held accountable for ten years’ worth of thousands of fatalities.
In 2021, the Congo’s government announced a state of siege on North Kivu and the nearby Ituri province in an effort to quell raging militia fighting in the vast, mineral-rich east of the country.
Yet there has been no evidence of a slowdown in the executions or insurgent activities.
(Reuters)
