Goma, Congo — Rebels linked to the Islamic State group killed at least 43 people in the eastern part Congoofficials said on Thursday.
Fighters from the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, killed civilians in the village of Bafvakoa on Wednesday night. Ugandan Islamic groups are active on both sides of the open border.
“They set fire to houses in the village,” Samuel Banapia, a civil society member in the area, said by phone.
The Congolese army said in a statement that 43 people had been killed, while local officials said the death toll was at least 56, with several people missing and at least two taken hostage.
The Congolese army has struggled to contain the ADF as it battles several other rebel groups in the east. is the most prominent Rwanda supported M23 Which had captured the major cities of the east last year.
“The ADF avoids direct conflict with the army and all its allies. That is why they attack the population in a way that harms peace efforts and leads to reprisals against the population, thus carrying out reprisals against our people,” Lt. Jules Ngongo, a spokesman for the Congolese army in the east, said by phone.
The number of ADF fighters in Congo is unclear, but they have a significant presence in the region and regularly attack civilians. The group originated in Uganda in the late 1990s and became affiliated with IS in 2019. Muslims constitute about 10% of Congo’s population, the majority of whom are in the east.
In recent years, ADF attacks have intensified near the border with Uganda and spread to eastern Congo’s main city of Goma, as well as neighboring Ituri province. Last year, A.D.F. killed 66 people And kidnapped many more people in the neighboring area.
