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A militia associated with the Islamic State group launched a coordinated assault on three villages in the Democratic Republic of Congo, resulting in the deaths of at least 14 individuals, according to military and local sources on Friday.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) executed the assaults overnight within a seven-kilometre radius (4.3 miles) in the northwestern area of North Kivu province.
The three villages experienced attacks at the same time during an “ADF incursion,” stated local leader Macaire Sivikunula. Residents were thrown into a panic as gunfire erupted between 8:00 pm and 10:00 pm, he mentioned, noting that 15 individuals were killed and 13 homes were set on fire.
Villagers who spoke to AFP corroborated the deadly incident.
The Congolese army reported that two of its soldiers lost their lives.
“There was an incursion by ADF terrorists in the Bapera sector, the death toll stands at 14, comprising 12 civilians and two soldiers,” said Lieutenant Marc Elongo, the army spokesperson in the area, to AFP.
The ADF, which was initially formed by former Ugandan rebels, has been embedded in northeastern DRC since the mid-1990s and has taken the lives of thousands of civilians.
Since 2021, Ugandan troops have been deployed alongside the Congolese army to combat the ADF, but their joint efforts have not succeeded in putting an end to the violence.
The ADF mainly targets unarmed civilians before fleeing into the vast forests that characterise the region, escaping before reinforcements arrive.
