Local sources reported today that a new village attack attributed to the ADF, rebels affiliated with the Islamic State group, has left 12 civilians dead in North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The ADF (Allied Democratic Forces), originally Ugandan rebels, are accused of having massacred thousands of Congolese civilians since the mid-1990s and have been present in the east of the DRC ever since.
Commenting on the attack, Ricardo Rupande, president of civil society in the area, told the press that there had been an incursion by ADF rebels into the village of Bukokoma”, in the Ruwenzori area. He said that the rebels, who also stole cattle, did not fire a single shot.
For his part, Katanga Matete, the chief of the Nzenga locality, which includes Bukokoma, said that “they opened doors and decapitated people with axes and machetes”, resulting in 12 deaths.
Albert Ndungo, secretary of the Mutwanga Red Cross, confirmed that the victims were killed with knives and that the death toll was 12 civilians, four men, four women, and four children, adding that there were also wounded.
Joint operations have been conducted by the Congolese and Ugandan armies in North Kivu and the neighboring province of Ituri since the end of 2021 against the ADF.
A similar attack exactly one week ago left at least nine people dead in another village in Beni territory, where, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 50 civilians were killed in May alone.