The NGO Coordinator Convention for Human Rights has advanced a provisional assessment of “38 dead”.
More than thirty people were killed in an ADF rebels’ attack (Allied Democratic Forces) against a Catholic Church in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, after months of lull, AFP learned from local officials and the parish priest. During the night from Saturday to Sunday, the ADF, an armed group formed at the origin of former Ugandan rebels and which made allegiance to the Islamic State group, attacked the blessed parish of Komanda in the province of Ituri, according to local officials.
Ici, “In the eyes, we have at least 31 dead among the members of the Eucharistic Crusade Movement, with six seriously injured (…), some young people were kidnapped, we have no news of them”AFP Aimé Lokana Dhego told AFP, parish priest. The priest added that seven other bodies had been discovered in the locality of Komanda, located about 75 km south of Bunia, the capital of the province.
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“The enemy would be identified among the ADFs”
“Yesterday night around 9 pm (7 pm GMT), we heard shots towards the parish”the ADFs made it foam, and “For the moment, we have seen 35 bodies”told AFP Dieudonné Katanabo, Umoja district chief where the parish is located. Also attributing this attack to “ADF rebels”Christophe Munyanderu, Coordinator of the NGO Convention for respect for human rights (CNCDH, a local organization) has advanced a provisional assessment “38 dead”.
Without commenting on the human record, Lieutenant Jules Ngongo, army spokesperson in Ituri, confirmed the attack on AFP, indicating that “The enemy would be identified among the ADFs”. The ADFs killed thousands of civilians and multiplied looting and murders in the northeast DRC despite the deployment of the Ugandan army (UPDF) alongside the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) in the area.