Islamic State-backed ADF fighters armed with machetes and hoes have killed at least 52 civilians in the Beni and Lubero territories in eastern DR Congo in recent days, UN and local officials said. Initial reports had estimated that 40 civilians were killed in what locals described as a double attack by the ADF. ALSO READ: Pope Leo calls for peace after ADF kills 47 in Congo church The ADF militants were taking revenge on civilians after suffering defeats by Congolese forces, Lieutenant Elongo Kyondwa Marc, a regional Congolese army spokesperson, told Reuters. When they arrived, they first woke the residents, gathered them in one place, tied them up with ropes, and then began to massacre them with machetes and hoes, Macaire Sivikunula, chief of Lubero's Bapere sector, he said over the weekend. ALSO READ: Ugandan army says it captured ADF base in Ituri About 30 civilians were killed in the village of Melia alone, Alain Kiwewe, a military administrator for the Lubero territory, told Reuters. Among the victims were children and women whose throats were slit in their homes, while several houses were set on fire, he said. The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) condemned in the strongest possible terms the attacks by the ADF between August 9 and 16, the mission's spokesperson said on Monday. The attacks killed at least 52 civilians, including eight women and two children, and the toll could rise as the search is ongoing, the spokesperson said. The UN-sanctioned ADF is one of the most notorious militias in DR Congo's conflict-ridden eastern region. Based in Ituri province, the group originates from Uganda and has been active for nearly three decades. In another attack in late July, the ADF killed at least 47 civilians in a church in Ituri. The attack caused outrage from local and international communities, with the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo, calling for peace and describing the victims as martyrs. An attack on a Ugandan school by the Islamist militia killed at least 40 children in June 2023. After an agreement with DR Congo, Uganda deployed troops to Ituri in 2021, under Operation Shujaa, to hunt down the militia. The operation is still ongoing.
