Islamic State-linked rebels slaughter mourners in DR Congo attack

Survivors have described scenes of extreme brutality, including beheadings, in the assaults by the Allied Democratic Forces

At least 89 people have been killed in overnight attacks, including on Christians gathered at a funeral in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) by an Islamic State-affiliated (IS, formerly ISIS) armed group, the government has said.

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) has been accused of carrying out assaults on Monday in Lubero and Beni, in North Kivu province. Local officials said militants attacked a funeral in Ntoyo village, hacking people with machetes and leaving at least 60 dead. Additional killings were reported in Beni, with survivors describing scenes of extreme brutality, including beheadings.

“There were about 10 of them. I saw machetes. They told people to gather in one place and started cutting them. I listened to people screaming and I fainted,” The Associated Press quoted a survivor as saying.

In a statement on Monday, Congolese Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka condemned the “barbaric acts” that claimed the lives of “innocent people, caused many injuries, disappearances, and significant material destruction.”

She pledged that Kinshasa “will spare no effort to guarantee security, to bring the perpetrators before justice.”

IS Central Africa Province (ISCAP), with which the group is affiliated, has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it killed nearly 100 Christians.

The ADF, originally a Ugandan Islamist group, has waged a violent insurgency in eastern Congo for decades and pledged allegiance to IS in 2019. Its fighters have been blamed for massacres, kidnappings, and bombings.

Monday’s violence follows a string of deadly ADF operations in recent weeks. In mid-August, at least 52 people were killed in coordinated raids across Beni and Lubero that also involved abductions, looting, and arson, the UN mission in Congo (MONUSCO) reported. Officials have said the militants are exploiting instability in North Kivu, where government forces are also battling the M23 movement.

At a UN Security Council briefing in August, counterterrorism officials warned of Islamic State’s growing footprint in Africa. On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch reported that fighters linked to the group have killed more than 127 people in five separate strikes in western Niger since March.

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