89 killed in eastern Congo as Islamic State rebels attack villages and a hospital

An Islamic State–aligned rebel group has killed 89 people in a series of assaults on villages in eastern Congo, the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO said on Friday.

In Byambwe village, located about 60 kilometres (37 miles) west of Lubero town, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) killed at least 17 people on Saturday inside a hospital, including 11 women who were receiving care in the maternity ward.

Eastern Congo remains engulfed in violence involving numerous armed groups and militias. Among them are the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, who captured large areas of North and South Kivu in January and February.

Further north, the ADF, a force of former Ugandan rebels that has sworn allegiance to Islamic State has continued to carry out repeated massacres across both provinces.

MONUSCO said the ADF mounted “particularly deadly” attacks between November 13 and 19 in multiple locations around the Lubero region of North Kivu. According to the mission, the assaults occurred in the Bapere and Baswaghga administrative areas.

The statement added that several other communities also came under attack, resulting in additional abductions, the theft of medical supplies and the burning of homes and property in regions already suffering acute humanitarian distress.

Armed groups including the ADF and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have carried out several deadly attacks in eastern Congo.

The ADF, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2019, operates along the border with Uganda and often targets civilians.

In August, ADF fighters killed at least 52 people during several attacks in the same week, according to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo.

The group also killed nearly 40 people in Ituri province in July, when it stormed a Catholic church during a vigil and opened fire on worshippers, including many women and children.

The ADF was formed by disparate small groups in Uganda in the late 1990s following discontent with President Yoweri Museveni. In 2002, following Ugandan military strikes, the group moved to neighbouring Congo and has been blamed for the killings of thousands of civilians.

With inputs from agencies