ISIL claims responsibility for deadly church attack in eastern DR Congo

A UN mission claims that at least 43 worshippers were killed during a night mass at a church in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The armed group ISIL (ISIS) is to blame for the deadly attack.

Members of the ISIL-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) killed people with guns and machetes and taken captives during the attack at the church in Komanda city in the province of Ituri.

ISIL claimed on its Telegram channel that rebels had burned dozens of homes and businesses and killed about 45 churchgoers.

At least 43 people were killed, according to the UN mission known as MONUSCO, including 19 women and nine children.

Pope Leo expressed his condolences to the bereaved families and the Christian community, saying he would pray for them.

The military described the church attack as a “large-scale massacre” carried out as retaliation for recent security operations against the ADF, while the Congolese government called it “horrific.”

However, M23, another rebel group supported by Rwanda, used the attack to accuse the government of “blatant incompetence” in an effort to protect its citizens.

According to MONUSCO, the church massacres “address a province’s already incredibly concerning humanitarian situation.”

The church attack on Sunday was just the latest in a string of deadly ADF attacks on civilians, including one earlier this month when 66 people were killed in Ituri province as a result.

Around 1:00 a.m. (GMT) on July 11, in the Irumu region, close to Uganda’s border, the attack occurred.

The ADF’s roots are in Uganda, which is where it is now headquartered, but it is now in the mineral-rich eastern DRC. A region in which numerous armed groups compete for resources and influence is further destabilized by it mounting frequent attacks.

In Uganda, a series of disparate small groups formed the ADF in the late 1990s as a result of alleged unrest with President Yoweri Museveni.

The organization moved its activities to the DRC after Ugandan forces launched military assaults in 2002, and it has since been responsible for the killings of countless civilians. It swore allegiance to ISIL in 2019.

The ADF’s leadership claims that the East African nation is battling to form a government.