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At least 25 farmers were killed in overnight attacks by fighters linked to the Islamic State group in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local and security sources told AFP.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) struck several isolated villages in the forests of Ituri province between Saturday night and Sunday, a region long plagued by such assaults.
A humanitarian worker on the ground said the victims “had been bound and hacked with machetes” and reported seeing over 20 bodies.
Leon Undemutau Manzaleke, a local civil society leader, told AFP that all the victims were farmers who tended fields in the affected villages.
He described the figure of 25 as “provisional” but confirmed by other sources.
Local human-rights activist Christophe Munyanderu added that several people had also been taken hostage during the raids.
The ADF, originally formed by Ugandan rebels and now pledged to IS, has been responsible for repeated massacres in eastern DRC. The region has also seen attacks by the Rwanda-backed M23 anti-government group in recent years.
Since 2021, Ugandan and Congolese forces have conducted joint operations in Ituri and northern North Kivu to combat the ADF, but the violence has continued unabated.
