At least 16 civilians were killed in Ituri, a troubled province in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in a new attack attributed to the armed group of Ugandan origin ADF, we learned Tuesday (August 3rd) from military sources and local.

According to local civil society, the victims, including at least two women, were taken hostage a few weeks ago by the rebels of the ADF (Allied Democratic Forces).

They were executed on Monday "with knives on the national road 4 near the town of Idohu," said Dieudonné Malangai, vice-president of the civil society of the chiefdom of Walese Vonkotu, of which this is part. common.

Military reinforcements expected

During a meeting in front of the population in Komanda, about forty kilometers away, which an AFP correspondent was able to attend, the military governor for Ituri, Lieutenant-General Johnny Luboya Nkashama, deplored the killing .

"We are going to strengthen our presence in the region," he said, while Ituri, as well as the neighboring province of North Kivu, have been placed under siege since May 6, a measure supposed to put an end to it. the activities of armed groups which terrorize civilians.

"The helicopters are already there, and other soldiers will arrive, with trucks and ammunition, to ensure security in this area and organize convoys on this road", where vehicles are sometimes targeted by the ADF, a he added. 

ADF, an armed group close to IS jihadists

He promised to return in a month to re-assess the situation with residents, thousands of whom have had to leave their homes to flee the violence.

"The objective is to clean the area completely and allow the population to return to the villages," he added, in front of a very skeptical crowd.

"It was thought that the state of siege would restore security but people continue to die every day," said residents, expressing their disappointment.

At the origin of the Ugandan Muslim rebels, the ADF are accused of massacres of civilians having killed at least 6,000 people since 2013, according to a report by the Congolese episcopate.

Since April 2019, some of their attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) organization.

The United States placed them in March on the list of "terrorist organizations" affiliated with ISIS. 

With AFP  

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