Rebel attack on church leaves at least 35 dead in DR Congo

Allied Democratic Forces rebels stormed a church in northeastern DR Congo and killed at least 35 people, local sources told AFP.

The ADF, originally formed from former Ugandan rebels and which pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2019, raided a Catholic church in the town of Komanda where worshippers were gathered for prayer, residents told AFP by telephone from Bunia, capital of Ituri province.

"Last night around 9pm (1900 GMT), we heard gunfire near the parish church... so far we have seen 35 bodies," Dieudonne Katanabo, an Umoja neighbourhood elder, told AFP.

"We have at least 31 dead members of the Eucharistic Crusade movement, with six seriously injured... some young people were kidnapped, we have no news of them," Father Aime Lokana Dhego, parish priest of the Blessed Anuarite parish of Komanda, told AFP.

The priest added that seven other bodies had been discovered in the town.

Likewise attributing the attack to "ADF rebels", Christophe Munyanderu, coordinator of the local NGO Convention for the Respect of Human Rights, gave a provisional death toll of 38.

Lieutenant Jules Ngongo, army spokesman in Ituri, did not comment on the toll but confirmed the attack to AFP, stating that "the enemy is believed to have been identified among ADF" rebels.

The bloodshed comes after months of calm in the region of Ituri, bordering Uganda.

The last major attack by the ADF was in February, leaving 23 dead in Mambasa territory.

The town of Komanda in Irumu territory is a commercial hub linking three other provinces — Tshopo, North Kivu, and Maniema.

The ADF has killed thousands of civilians and ramped up looting and killing in northeastern DRC despite the deployment of both the Ugandan army alongside Congolese armed forces in the area.

At the end of 2021, Kampala and Kinshasa launched a joint military operation against the ADF, dubbed "Shujaa", which has so far been unable to dislodge the group.