No fewer than six civilians were killed in two attacks carried out by the ADF rebel group in DR Congo, the army disclosed on Thursday, adding that it had pursued and killed four assailants.
Africa Daily News, New York reports that the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) is the deadliest of more than 120 armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and the US has formally linked it to the so-called Islamic State (IS).
‘The DRC armed forces successfully neutralised four ADF fighters this morning,’ said Captain Antony Mualushayi, army spokesman in the territory of Beni, North Kivu province.
‘These terrorists killed three civilians overnight, two women and a child, before regular forces arrived.”
The ADF attacked the village ‘in a bid to get food supplies and undermine the army’s efforts’ against them, said Mualushayi.
In a second assault, ADF forces killed three more civilians on the road to Uganda on Thursday, torching two trucks after stealing their loads of food, said Ricardo Rupande, spokesman for a network of NGO’s in the Rwenzori area.
North Kivu and neighbouring Ituri province have been under a “state of siege” since May, in a bid to step up a military offensive against the rebels.
In the meantime, the death toll from a major attack on the eastern DR Congo city of Bukavu rose to 11 on Thursday with hospital sources saying two civilians had died in the shooting and three been wounded.
South Kivu province’s governor had announced six rebels, two policemen and a soldier died in the raid on Wednesday.
Numerous armed groups have been active in South Kivu for the past 25 years, but the provincial capital Bukavu had not seen such an attack in years.
Regional military commander Bob Kilubi Ngoy said the gunmen were from a previously unknown group called the CPCA-A64, or Coalition of Congolese Patriots for the Application of Article 64.
Article 64 of DR Congo’s constitution calls on citizens to resist any seizure of power by force.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
