According to the army of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a bomb strike during a service at a Protestant church in the country’s eastern region resulted in at least 10 deaths and dozens more injuries. Sunday, army spokesperson Anthony Mualushay reported that the blast killed at least 10 persons and injured 39 others. He said that both tariffs were temporary.
Mualushay stated that the attack on the Sunday service in the Ugandan border city of Kasindi was likely carried out by the Ugandan armed organization Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which has declared allegiance to ISIL (ISIS). The ISIL organization claimed responsibility for the attack later on Sunday. The ADF, which originated in Uganda, has been headquartered in the DRC since the late 1990s. According to survivors and witnesses, the explosion separated several individuals’ limbs from their bodies. Masika Makasi, age 25, was sitting beneath a tent outside the church when she heard what sounded like a tire going flat, she told the Associated Press from her home in Kasindi. Makasi stated that her leg was damaged in the attack and that her sister-in-law, who was several feet away, died instantaneously. She stated, “I am traumatized from witnessing people dying around me.” Kasindi is located in a region where Congolese and Ugandan soldiers have started an offensive against ADF fighters. The group declared allegiance to ISIL in the middle of 2019 and is suspected of murdering hundreds of civilians in numerous operations over the last two years.
The Ugandan army has dispatched troops to eastern Congo in an attempt to quell the bloodshed, but the attacks have intensified and spread. Since April, ADF raids have resulted in the deaths of at least 370 people and the kidnapping of several hundred more, according to a report released by the United Nations last month. The rebel organization has expanded its area of operations to include Goma and the adjacent province of Ituri. More than 120 armed factions prowl the eastern mineral-rich DRC. Regional conflicts that erupted around the turn of the century have left a significant number of repercussions.
