Kinshasa, Aug 19 (V7N) – At least 52 civilians have been killed by ISIL-backed rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) this month, according to the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO.

The attacks were carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in the Beni and Lubero regions of North Kivu province between August 9 and 16. The UN mission warned that the death toll could rise.

The assaults involved hostage-taking, looting, and the burning of homes, vehicles, and motorbikes. Local authorities reported that villagers were tied up and massacred with sharp weapons such as axes and machetes. The attacks have devastated a population already facing a severe humanitarian crisis.

Nine people were killed in the town of Ouicha between the night of August 16 and early hours of August 17, while at least 40 others were killed in the Bapere region of Lubero a few days earlier.

The ADF, formed in the 1990s to oppose Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, began operating in Congo in 2002 and pledged allegiance to ISIL in 2019. In July, the group killed about 40 people, mostly women and children, in an attack on a Catholic church in Komanda, Ituri province.

MONUSCO has increased troop deployments in affected areas and sheltered hundreds of civilians. Despite the joint Ugandan-Congolese military operation “Shuja” launched in late 2021, ADF attacks have continued unabated.

END/SMA/AJ