No fewer than 20 worshippers who were taking part in a night vigil at a church in the town of Komanda, Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo, have been killed in an attack linked to Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) fighters, an Islamic State affiliate.
Local sources say nearby shops and businesses were looted and set on fire during the attack.
TNT understands that ADF emerged in Uganda in the 1990s, accusing the government there of persecuting Muslims, but is now based over the border in DR Congo, where it regularly attacks civilians of all religions, as well as in Uganda.
“More than 21 people were shot dead inside and outside (the church), and we have recorded at least three charred bodies and several houses burned. But the search is continuing,” Dieudonne Duranthabo, a civil society coordinator in Komanda, told the Associated Press.
Another source put the figure of those killed at 31. “We have at least 31 dead members of the Eucharistic Crusade movement, with six seriously injured. Some young people were kidnapped, and we had no news of them,” Father Aime Lokana Dhego, a local priest, told the AFP news agency.
Reaearch shows that in 2021, DR Congo invited Ugandan troops into the country to help tackle the ADF.
Komanda is in DR Congo’s mineral-rich Ituri province, which has been fought over by various armed groups for many years.
