Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) eastern region has left several people dead as informed by officials. Interior Minister of North Kivu province, Jean-Bosco Sebishimbo told that twenty-nine bodies were found in the Virunga Park after being executed en masse. He said that that during an armed attack that took place in Kokola village on Tuesday, around six civilians were killed. The number was confirmed by the United Nations’ Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), however, the local sources spoke of seven casualties.
The officials have held the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which is a Ugandan Islamic rebel group that originated in 1990s, as responsible for the killings. “The first indications about the perpetrators of these vile acts point towards ADF fighters, who are very active in the area”, said Sebishimbo. The ADF did not take responsibility for the attacks. “The horror of this macabre new discovery cannot leave anyone indifferent”, said Marc Chataigner, the European Union’s to the DRC.
According to Kivu Security Tracker, both the attacks took place in North Kevu’s Beni territory where 811 civilians have been killed so far since October 31, 2019. On the same date, DR Congo’s army had launched a large operation against the ADF leaders and their bases in the jungle around Beni. Subsequently, the militia reportedly intensified a campaign of massacres in rural areas in order to discourage civilians from collaborating with the military.
Around 21 people were reported to have been killed by the ADF in October last month in the north-east region of the DRC. The group first attacked a rival group of the Congolese militia before killing civilians in the village of Lisasa.
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Earlier this month, terrorists affiliated to the ISIS had burnt down houses and fired shots at innocent people in Nanjaba village. Several women were abducted, two people were beheaded by the terrorists. In a separate incident, more than 50 people were decapitated by another group of terrorists in the Muatide village. In a press conference held after the incident a police official said that eyewitnesses had testified that the terrorists had abducted several villagers, including women and children, to a football filed and used it as an execution ground to behead the victims.
