(Beni) More than fifty people were killed this week in the Beni region (eastern Democratic Republic of Congo), in a series of new attacks by rebels affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group, local sources said on Friday to the AFP.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) killed 13 people in their latest attack on Thursday in three villages in Beni territory, in North Kivu province, a civil society official told AFP.
“Seven men and six women” were killed “and several others (people) are missing,” said Kinos Katuo, president of civil society in the town of Mamove where the attacks took place.
During raids on Tuesday, the ADF killed 39 other people in three other villages in North Kivu, Leon Siviwe, an administrative official in Beni, told AFP.
“The death toll could rise as the search continues and local people flee to supposedly safe areas,” Mr Siviwe said.
He added that several motorbikes and houses were also damaged in the attack.
Residents of another village are fleeing their homes as ADF rebels are about seven kilometres away, John Bwanakawa, president of Cantine’s civil society, told AFP.
Around 85% of the population of this village left for neighboring towns, particularly to take refuge in Beni, he explained.
They pledged allegiance in 2019 to ISIS, which presents them as its “Central African province” (Iscap), and are also accused of recent attacks on Ugandan soil.
At the end of 2021, Kampala and Kinshasa launched a joint military operation against them, called “Shujaa”, without succeeding so far in putting an end to their abuses.