DR Congo attack backed by IS resulted in the death of several Ugandan soldiers

Authorities in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo said on Saturday that two Ugandan troops and two civilians, as well as a suspected attacker, had been slain by rebels supported by the Islamic State group.

According to Barthelemy Kambale, a North Kivu provincial government official, two truck drivers—a Kenyan and a Congolese—were shot and killed on Friday night by Allied Democratic Forces linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS) at a parking lot in Kasindi, Beni region.

He told AFP that a fifth body was thought to be that of an attacker.

In a message published on the messaging app Telegram on Saturday night, the Islamic State organisation claimed responsibility for the attack.

About fifteen people were murdered in a Pentecostal church bombing in Kasindi in January, which was attributed to the ADF and for which IS took responsibility.

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In an attempt to force the militants out of their Congolese strongholds, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo jointly launched an operation against the ADF in 2021, but the attacks have persisted.

The ADF, which at first mostly consisted of Muslim Ugandan rebels, is said to have killed thousands of civilians in the area after establishing itself there in the 1990s.

“The ADF enemy arrived about 22:30 (2030 GMT), our forces blocked the road against the rebels,” stated Kambale. He added that “two Ugandan soldiers died during the operation.”

He said that three cars had burned out.

“They burned the body of a dead ADF,” a local civil society representative said, requesting anonymity. “People are angry.”

ADF-attributed atrocity near Oicha town, also in Beni territory, claimed the lives of 26 civilians over the course of Monday and Tuesday night. This area has been the focal point of the ADF’s years-long rampage, which IS refers to as the Islamic State Central Africa Province.

According to Ugandan police, on October 17, a couple on their honeymoon and their safari guide were killed in the country’s Queen Elizabeth National Park by the ADF. IS declared that it was behind the incident.

In spite of peacekeeping, a multitude of rebel and militia groups control the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.