At Least 13 Dead After Armed Attack In Northeastern DR Congo - Local Youth Organization

Sumaira FH Published July 17, 2020 | 06:20 PM

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th July, 2020) At least 13 civilians were killed when gunmen attacked a village in the northeastern province of Ituri in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the president of a local youth organization in the Banyali-Tchabi chiefdom told the Congolese 7sur7 news portal on Friday.

The incident took place in Banyali-Tchabi on Thursday morning and was allegedly committed by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) radical group.

"We have just established that 13 people were killed by the attackers with a machete and firearm. The rebels killed [them] in the village of Belu, where they encountered civilians engaged in agricultural work.

The bodies of the dead are still at the crime scene," Innocent Bayono said.

The area is loosely controlled by the government's forces, which is used by rebels to attack local residents.

The DR Congo has long been fighting the ADF, which was formed in western Uganda to oppose the government and eventually expanded its activities into the neighboring state. The group is considered to be a terrorist organization in Uganda and is believed to be responsible for frequent outbreaks of violence in both Uganda and DR Congo.

In 2017, the ADF pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia).