An attack on a church attributed to two rebels killed at least 35 people in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, local officials told the French Press Agency on Sunday, after a calm in the region that lasted for months.
Residents of the French Press Agency by phone from Punia, the capital of Itori province, said that the “allied democratic forces” founded by former Ugandan rebels and pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2019, attacked the Catholic Church in the town of Commanda while Christian prayer.
“Last night, at about nine in the evening (19:00 GMT), we heard gunfire near the local church … so far we have seen 35 bodies,” Dyodon Katanu, who is notables of the Umoga neighborhood, told Agence France -Presse.
“We have 31 people from the members of the Eucharist movement, with six people with serious injuries … a number of young people were kidnapped, and we have no information about them,” Reverend Aim Lukana Digu of the “Holy Anwart” church in Kumanda told the French Press Agency.
He added that seven other bodies were found in the town.
For his part, the coordinator of the NGO, Christophe Monrendo, reported the killing of 38 people, also blaming the “allied democratic forces rebels” responsible for the attack.
The army spokesman at Iteuri, Lieutenant -Guls Ngongo, did not comment on the outcome, but he confirmed the attack to the French Press Agency, noting that “it is believed that the enemy was determined as (allied democratic forces).”
The attack comes after months of calm in the Iteuri area adjacent to Uganda.
The last attack by the “Allied Democratic Forces” took place in February, killing 23 people in the Mampassa area.
The town of Kumanda in the Eromo region is a commercial center linking three other provinces: Chopco, North Kivu and Manima.
The “allied democratic forces” killed thousands of civilians and carried out looting and killing in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, despite the deployment of forces from the Ugandan army and the Congolese army in the region.
Late 2021, Kampala and Kinshasa launched a joint military operation against the “allied democratic forces” that have not yet succeeded.
