Attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces have intensified in recent months in parts of Ituri and neighbouring North Kivu province.
Regional army spokesperson Lieutenant Jules Tshikudi Ngongo said on Thursday that at least “43 compatriots were killed and 44 houses torched” during the previous day’s attack in Bafwakoa, located in Mambasa territory, in the province of Ituri.
Authorities blamed the attack on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group led by former Ugandan rebels that has sworn allegiance to ISIL.
The army has struggled to contain the group, as it battles several other rebel groups in the east, the most prominent one being the Rwandan-backed M23, which last year seized Goma, the largest city in eastern DRC, as well as several other major cities.
Baptiste Munyapandi, territorial administrator of Mambasa, told the Reuters news agency that search operations were continuing and that the death toll could rise.
Houses were set on fire, some victims were killed with machetes, while others burned in their homes, and two people were abducted, Christian Alimasi, a local customary official in Mambasa territory, told Reuters.
The number of ADF fighters in DRC is unclear, but they are a significant presence in the region.
ADF attacks on civilians have intensified in recent months in parts of Ituri and neighbouring North Kivu province, despite joint Congolese-Ugandan military operations against the group launched in 2021.
Last year, the ADF killed 66 people and abducted several more in a neighbouring area.
“The ADF avoids direct combat with the army and all its partners; that’s why they attack the population in a way that sabotages peace efforts and acts of revenge against the population, thus reprisals against our people,” Ngongo, the Congolese army spokesperson, told The Associated Press news agency.
