At least 17 civilians killed in an attack by ADF militias on several towns in northeastern DRC

May 18. (EUROPA PRESS) –

At least 17 civilians have died, including three children and two women, in a brutal attack carried out by the militias of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) against several towns in the Congolese province of Ituri, in the northeast of the country, and in the that has burned eleven people alive.

The attacks have occurred specifically in the towns of Nakota, Nyaongo and Wesa, the management of the New Mambasa Civil Society organization reported to Radio Okapi.

During one of these attacks, the rebels put the eleven civilians inside a restaurant which they proceeded to set on fire.

Four other civilians have been taken hostage, according to these sources, who also report a mass displacement of nearby communities for fear of new assaults.

The president of the NGO, John Vuleveryo, has also warned that the ADF, which generally focuses its operations in Ituri, has built “two large bastions” in the neighboring province of North Kivu, itself the scene of bloody clashes. between the Army and the militias of the March 23 Movement.

The ADF is an extremely violent Ugandan group created in the 1990s to which the United Nations blamed, for example, the responsibility of 1,200 murders of civilians in 2021, two years after a split through which it ended up joining the jihadist group Islamic State in Africa. Central (ISCA), under whose flag it has operated since then. DRC and Uganda signed a defense agreement in December 2021 to carry out joint operations in eastern DRC.