Africa-Press – Cape verde. The death toll in an attack in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo) carried out on Monday by rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) has risen to 18, local authorities announced today.
“The [initial] count has increased. We went from 13 to 18 bodies of civilians killed in an ADF attack here in Mambasa” in Ituri province, provincial deputy Leku Puebo told EFE news agency.
“Civilians are killed every day. It is always the ADF that are behind these attacks”, added the deputy, also lamenting the disappearance of an unknown number of people.
The attack took place last Monday night in the villages of Kakumbukumbu and Nakota, in the Babila-Babombi area.
“I must confess that the situation is still difficult in the two villages, where everything is at a standstill because we have just buried some bodies”, said Puebo.
The ADF is a Ugandan rebel group, but is currently based in North Kivu and Ituri, where it carries out constant attacks.
Its targets are unclear, beyond a possible link to the Islamic State (IS), which sometimes claims responsibility for its attacks.
Although United Nations Security Council experts found no evidence of direct support from IS, the United States identified the ADF in March 2021 as a “terrorist organization.”
Ugandan authorities also accuse the group of organizing attacks on their territory and, in November 2021, the armies of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo), which borders Angola, began a joint military operation to combat the rebels.
Since 1998, eastern DRCongo has been mired in conflict fueled by rebel militias and the army, despite the presence of the UN mission in the country (MONUSCO).
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