89 civilians are killed in attacks by Islamic State-affiliated rebels in the east Congo, according to a UN force
The U.N. peacekeeping force in the Central African nation, known as MONUSCO, reported on Friday that Islamic State-affiliated militants had killed 89 civilians in several raids in the Lubero region of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Between November 13 and November 19, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) combatants carried out operations in various localities in North Kivu province. According to a statement from MONUSCO, among the 89 people killed were at least 20 women and an unknown number of children.
It said that during one of the raids, the rebels set fire to four patient wards and killed at least 17 people, including women who had come to the Catholic Church-run health center in Byambwe for maternity treatment.
The separatists also allegedly looted medical supplies and abducted people, among other infractions.
“MONUSCO urges the Congolese authorities to promptly initiate independent and credible investigations to identify the perpetrators and accomplices of these massacres and bring them to justice,” added the statement.
Last month, local officials told Reuters that 19 civilians were slain in a midnight attack in the North Kivu provincial village of Mukondo by suspected ADF fighters.
Over sixty civilians were killed in one of the ADF’s bloodiest attacks in recent memory at a funeral in eastern Congo in September.
Although it began as a rebel group in Uganda, the ADF has been based in the neighboring Congo’s woods since the late 1990s, and Islamic State recognizes it as an affiliate.
Although operations against the ADF have been undertaken by Ugandan and Congolese soldiers, the group’s attacks persist.
The M23 rebels, who are supported by Rwanda, have taken control of other areas of North Kivu province and have made a swift advance this year.
The United States and Qatar are among the mediators attempting to mediate a settlement in that dispute, which Washington hopes will allow for Western mining interests.
