More than 40 people have been killed in two attacks in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in the past two days, local officials said. The attacks were allegedly carried out by members of the rebel group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
The ADF group, which the jihadist Islamic State claims to be its branch in the Central African region, is considered one of the most bloodthirsty armed militias in the eastern part of the DRC. It is being accused of the massacre of thousands of civilians, reports the French news agency AFP.
ADF operatives attacked the neighboring villages of Mukondi and Mausa in the Beni area of North Kivu province on Wednesday evening and early morning. 38 people were killed in Mukondi and eight in Mausa, with the death toll likely to rise, a local administrator told AFP Kalunga Meat. As he said, the attackers rounded up the people and executed them.
The organization Kivu Security Tracker, which monitors and documents violence and human rights violations in eastern DR Congo, announced today that armed men killed at least 30 people with machetes in Mukondi.
Deadly attacks were also reported from the west of the DR Congo. According to local authorities, 15 people were killed in them, AFP also reports.
Attackers attacked the villages of Somakita and Kinsele in the Kwamouth area of Mai-Ndombe province at dawn on Wednesday, local civil society leader Damien Bungu said. In Somakita, 15 people were killed and around 200 people fled the area. Meanwhile, attackers set fire to several houses in Kinsley.
In the Mai-Ndombe province, there have been clashes in the past between members of the Teke and Yaka groups in connection with taxes and land, reports AFP, which also adds that the number of deaths from the aforementioned attacks in both parts of the country could not be independently verified.
Source: Rtvslo