Local officials revealed that suspected Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militants have killed over 40 people in twin attacks in eastern DR Congo.
The ADF, which the Islamic State group claims as its central African affiliate, is one of the deadliest armed militias in eastern Congo, accused of slaughtering thousands of civilians.
Fighters from the group attacked the neighbouring villages of Mukondi and Mausa, in the Beni territory of North Kivu province, during Wednesday evening and the early hours of Thursday, officials said.
“It’s total desolation,” Kalunga Meso, a local administrator said. “They rounded up people and then executed them”.
He told disclosed that 38 people had been killed in Mukondi and eight in Mausa, stressing the death toll was provisional.
Mumbere Arsene, a local civil-society figure, said 37 people had been killed in Mukondi and eight
An M23 advance is now threatening to cut off all road links to Goma, a regional trade hub with Rwanda to its east and Lake Kivu to its south.
The DRC accuses Rwanda of backing the M23 — an assessment the United States, several other western countries and independent UN experts agree with.
Kigali denied the charge.
Dozens of armed groups roam eastern DRC, many of which are a legacy of regional wars that flared in the 1990s and early 2000s.
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