At least 60 killed in overnight ADF assault targeting mourners in North Kivu.
Survivors describe militants using machetes to kill civilians.
ADF continues attacks despite Congo-Uganda joint operations; region also grapples with M23 conflict.
At least 60 people were killed in an overnight assault by Islamic State–affiliated rebels in eastern Congo, officials confirmed Tuesday.
The attack, carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), took place in Ntoyo, North Kivu province, where residents had gathered for a burial. Survivors reported that militants forced people to assemble before attacking them with machetes.
“The ADF attack caused around 60 deaths, but the final toll will be given later this evening because the territory has just deployed services to the area to count the number of beheaded people,” said Col. Alain Kiwewa, administrator of the Lubero territory.
A survivor who requested anonymity told the Associated Press: “There were about 10 of them. I saw machetes. They told people to gather in one place and started cutting them. I listened to people screaming and I fainted.”
The ADF, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2019, has intensified its assaults across Congo and Uganda’s border region, despite joint military campaigns. In July, the group carried out two major attacks in Ituri province, killing at least 34 people in Komanda and 66 more in Irumu.
The violence adds to the mounting crises in eastern Congo, where multiple conflicts are unfolding, including clashes between the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel movement and the central government.
