Tragedy unfolded in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as at least 11 villagers fell victim to attacks attributed to the ADF militant group, linked to the Islamic State.
The assaults took place in various villages within the Mambasa area of Ituri province on Monday, according to local officials.
Matadi Muyapandi, a police official in Mambasa district, reported the discovery of 11 bodies scattered “in different parts of the forest.”
Military forces are actively pursuing the militants in the Irumu area of Ituri and the Beni area in the neighboring province of North Kivu.
Mandela Moise, leader of a local civil group in the Babila Babombi district of Mambasa, expressed that 13 people, predominantly farmers, had lost their lives in the attacks.
According to Moise, ADF militants ambushed the farmers in their fields, with their bodies still awaiting retrieval.
Originating as a Ugandan Muslim majority militant coalition in 1995, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) established a stronghold in eastern DRC.
The group, notorious for its lethality, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2019. Despite a joint military offensive by Uganda and the DRC in 2021 aimed at dislodging the ADF from its Congolese strongholds, attacks persist.
Moise lamented the apparent oversight in military operations, stating that the Mambasa district had been “forgotten.” Civil groups reported 23 suspected ADF attacks in Beni in January alone, resulting in the deaths of over 80 individuals. In December, the ADF was implicated in two attacks in western Uganda, claiming the lives of 13 villagers.
