LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nearly 40 people were killed Sunday in eastern Congo's Ituri province when rebels stormed a Catholic church during a vigil and opened fire on worshipers, including many women and children.
At least 38 people were confirmed dead in the church while another five were killed in a nearby village. The victims included 19 men, 15 women and nine children.
The attacks in Komanda town in the conflict-battered region were carried out by the Allied Democratic Force, a rebel group backed by the Islamic State that has mostly targeted villagers in eastern Congo and across the border in Uganda, the Congolese army said.
The ADF arose from tensions in neighboring Uganda
The ADF has roots in Uganda in the 1990s. Following the overthrow of long-term dictator, Idi Amin, a coalition of various discontent groups saw the new government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni as anti-Muslim.
Since then, the group has grown into a potent force but has been pushed out of Uganda’s territories and now operates in the borderlands between Uganda and Congo, often targeting civilians in remote villages.
ADF leaders pledged allegiance in 2019 to the Islamic State and have sought to establish an Islamic caliphate in Uganda.
Rebels complicate conflicts in eastern Congo
Eastern Congo has been beleaguered by protracted conflicts for decades, dating back to the Rwanda genocide in 1994.
The conflicts have involved more than a hundred armed groups, according to the United Nations. The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group is the most prominent and launched a blitz of attacks in January in a major escalation culminating in its capture of two key cities in the region.
The Congolese and Ugandan armies have targeted the ADF in a joint military effort but analysts say it has done little, even as the rebels attack civilians.
“These joint operations have only succeeded in dispersing the ADF without really protecting civilians from their wrathful reprisals,” said Onesphore Sematumba, the Congo analyst at the International Crisis Group.
This presents complex headaches for the overstretched Congolese army, which is occupied with advances by M23 and other rebel groups in the mineral-rich region.
“The ADF is taking more or less the advantage of the Congolese army’s and international diplomacy’s focus on the M23 further south without attracting too much attention,” Sematumba said.
Attack targeted worshipers at midnight
The church attack Sunday was the latest in a series of deadly ADF assaults on civilians, including earlier this month when the group killed 66 people in Ituri province.
The attack happened July 11 around 1 a.m. during a vigil at a Catholic church in Komanda, civil society leaders and survivors. It followed an attack a few hours earlier in the nearby village of Machongani, where five people were killed and houses razed. The attackers were believed to have come from a stronghold about 12 kilometers (7 miles) from Komanda and fled before security forces arrived.
Attack expected to worsen situation
The attack Sunday has sent shock waves around the Central African country, which is currently embroiled in numerous conflicts.
The Congolese government condemned it as “horrific" while the military described it as a “large-scale massacre” carried out in revenge for recent security operations targeting the ADF. However, M23 used the attack to accuse the government of “blatant incompetence” in attempts to protect citizens.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUSCO, said the church killings will “exacerbate an already extremely worrying humanitarian situation in the province.”
