IS-aligned rebels slay 66 civilians in eastern Congo

IS-aligned rebels slay 66 civilians in eastern Congo
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Rebels affiliated with the IS group killed 66 people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, The Associated Press reported.

Fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which has ties to ISIS, gunned down civilians in the area of Irumu in the east of the country bordering Uganda.

The attack comes as eastern Congo expects an end to its ongoing war with M23, a separate rebel group which is backed by Rwanda, another of Congo’s neighbors.

The ADF is a Ugandan terrorist group that operates on both sides of the porous border.

All the victims, including women, were killed with machetes, says the president of a local civil society, Marcel Paluku. The number of people taken hostage is unknown.

The attack is suspected to be in response to an escalating bombing campaign by joint Congolese and Ugandan forces that started on Sunday.

The number of ADF fighters in Congo is unclear, but they are a significant presence in the region and regularly attack civilians. The group originated in the late 1990s in neighboring Uganda and became affiliated with IS in 2019.

It should be mentioned that Muslims make up about 10% of the Congolese population, most of them in the east.