Bunia – Suspected jihadists in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least five people and kidnapped a Red Cross volunteer in attacks on a village and an army camp, a priest and officials said on Friday.
The attacks on Thursday evening were blamed on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group linked to the so-called Islamic State.
They took place near Komanda, 75km (45 miles) south of Bunia, the capital of volatile Ituri province.
Vaden Ngarayi, an Adventist preacher in Komanda, said three civilians had died and 11 houses were burnt down.
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David Beiza, head of the Red Cross in Irumu territory where Komanda is located, confirmed those deaths, and said two other bodies were later discovered in the bush.
He said several dozen people had disappeared, presumed kidnapped by the rebels.
But “10 children and eight elderly women were released,” he added.
He said a Red Cross volunteer, Berogan Udaga, was abducted.
“We called him, his phone rang and it was a rebel who answered and said: ‘your agent is with us and he will not be released because he will help us to treat our wounded’.
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“Then they cut off the phone and it doesn’t work anymore.”
Ituri’s military governor, Johnny Luboya Nkashama, also told AFP five civilians had been killed.
The ADF, which the United States has deemed a terrorist group, is considered the deadliest of scores of armed militias that roam the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
It first emerged as a rebel movement in neighbouring Uganda in 1996, but is today presented as the Islamic State’s Central Africa Province.
It has been accused of killing thousands of civilians since 2013.
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Picture: Getty Images
Source: AFP
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