GOMA, Congo (AP) — Islamic State-backed rebels attacked a Catholic church in eastern Congo on Sunday, killing at least 34 people, according to a local civil society leader.
Dieudonne Duranthabo, a civil society coordinator in Komanda, in the Ituri province, told The Associated Press that the attackers stormed the church in Komanda town at around 1 a.m. Several houses and shops were also burnt.
"The bodies of the victims are still at the scene of the tragedy, and volunteers are preparing how to bury them in a mass grave that we are preparing in a compound of the Catholic church,” Duranthabo said.
Video footage from the scene shared online appeared to show burning structures and bodies on the floor of the church. Those who were able to identify some of the victims wailed while others stood in shock.
At least five other people were killed in an earlier attack on the nearby village of Machongani.
“They took several people into the bush; we do not know their destination or their number,” Lossa Dhekana, a civil society leader in Ituri, told the AP.
Both attacks are believed to have been carried out by members of the Allied Democratic Force (ADF) armed with guns and machetes.
Lt. Jules Ngongo, a spokesperson for the Congolese army in Ituri, confirmed at least 10 fatalities in the Komanda church attack. However, U.N.-backed Radio Okapi reported 43 deaths, citing security sources. The attackers reportedly came from a stronghold about 12 kilometers (7 miles) from Komanda and fled before security forces arrived.
Duranthabo condemned the violence in what he said was “a town where all the security officials are present.” He called for immediate military intervention, warning that “the enemy is still near our town.”
Eastern Congo has suffered deadly attacks in recent years by armed groups, including the ADF and Rwanda-backed rebels. The ADF, which has ties to the Islamic State, operates in the borderland between Uganda and Congo and often targets civilians. The group killed dozens of people in Ituri earlier this month in what a United Nations spokesperson described as a bloodbath.
The ADF was formed by disparate small groups in Uganda in the late 1990s following alleged discontent with President Yoweri Museveni.
In 2002, following military assaults by Ugandan forces, the group moved its activities to neighboring Congo and has since been responsible for the killings of thousands of civilians. In 2019, it pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
The Congolese army (FARDC) has long struggled to contain the group, especially amid renewed conflict involving the M23 rebel movement backed by neighboring Rwanda.
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Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria and Saleh Mwanamilongo contributed to this report.
