The army of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) reports that a bomb strike at a Protestant church during a service has left at least 10 persons dead and numerous others injured.
According to the army’s spokesman Anthony Mualushay, at least 10 individuals were killed and 39 others were injured in the blast. Both tolls were provisional, he added.
According to Mualushay, the attack at the Sunday service in the Ugandan border city of Kasindi was likely carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan armed organization that has sworn loyalty to ISIL (ISIS).
ISIL claimed responsibility for the incident later on Sunday January 15. Since the late 1990s, the ADF has had a stronghold in the DRC, but originally began as an uprising in Uganda.
According to survivors and witnesses, the explosion tore several people’s limbs off of their bodies.
25-year-old Makasi told news reporters that while she was seated outside the church beneath a tent, she heard a noise that sounded like a tire going flat and her leg was injured in the attack. Her sister-in-law, who was a few feet away, was killed instantly in the attack,she said.
“I am traumatised from seeing people die around me,” Makasi added.
Kasindi is located in a province where Ugandan and Congolese forces have started an offensive against the ADF.
It declared its allegiance to ISIL in the middle of 2019, and during the course of the previous two years, it is alleged that it killed hundreds of people in repeated raids.
The Ugandan army has sent troops to the eastern Congo in an effort to quell the unrest, but the attacks have grown more frequent and widespread.
In attacks since April, the ADF has killed at least 370 civilians and kidnapped hundreds more, according to a report released by the UN in December.
Goma and the nearby province of Ituri are now included in the rebel group’s operational territory.
In the mineral-rich eastern DRC, more than 120 armed factions are active. Regional hostilities that erupted at the turn of the century left a lasting legacy that is extensive.
Author-Roberta Appiah
