ADF attacks in eastern DRC leave nearly 90 dead

Shafaq News – Kinshasa

Around 90 civilians were killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after gunmen from the ISIS-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) carried out two attacks, local media reported on Thursday.

The first assault struck a funeral in North Kivu province, where militants opened fire and used machetes, leaving at least 60 mourners dead, survivors told local outlets. A separate raid in the nearby city of Beni killed 18 more.

The ADF, founded in Uganda in the 1990s before shifting into Congo and aligning with ISIS in 2019, has been blamed for some of the region’s worst atrocities. However, UN investigators stress that the group is not acting alone – a recent report from the agency also implicated the Congolese army, Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, and other armed groups in killings, sexual violence, and other abuses that "could constitute war crimes."

The UN mission MONUSCO documented at least 52 civilian deaths in separate incidents in August alone.