19 people are killed by alleged Islamic terrorists in another rural attack

Sunday’s attack on a community in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo by suspected Islamic militants resulted in at least 19 deaths and the burning of a medical institution, according to two local officials and a resident.

According to NAN, the attack, which happened at approximately one in the morning (2300 GMT) in the hamlet of Kirindera in the North Kivu province, was only a short distance from one on a community where at least 35 people were murdered just last week.

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed organisation located in eastern Congo that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State and often performs assaults on communities, had been given the responsibility for last week’s attack by the army.

Sadame Patanguli, a local civil society activist and citizen of a neighbouring community, also attributed today’s attack to the ADF.

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“Around Kirindera, gunfire was audible. In addition to setting fire to a hotel after pillaging it of supplies, the ADF also set fire to a hospital when they arrived, according to Patanguli.

Patanguli claims that several additional hostages taken by the Taliban are currently missing.

Thousands of killings have been attributed to the ADF, which was founded in Uganda before relocating to eastern Congo in the 1990s.

In an effort to stop raging militia warfare in the country’s vast, mineral-rich east, the Congo’s government declared a state of siege in North Kivu and the neighbouring province of Ituri back in 2021.

But, there is no indication that the executions or insurgent action will stop.