Dozens slaughtered in gun and machete attack at eastern DR Congo funeral
Allied Democratic Forces rebels blamed for a deadly attack on residents at a village mourning ceremony
Rebels affiliated with Islamic State killed at least 89 people in a machete and gun attack in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities said on Tuesday.
Congolese officials said that 71 people were killed at a funeral in Nyoto on Monday, and 18 others were killed in Beni in a separate attack on Tuesday. Both attacks took place in the North Kivu region of the country.
The attacks was carried out by the Allied Democratic Force, or ADF, in Ntoyo, North Kivu, after residents gathered at a burial.
“There were about 10 of them. I saw machetes. They told people to gather in one place and started cutting them. I listened to people screaming and I fainted,” a survivor who was present at the funeral told Associated Press.
The region has been beset by a set of complex conflicts, including an increase in attacks by the ADF, which operates in the border region between DR Congo and Uganda.
“Many bodies continue to be received in Oicha. Bodies are deformed following machete blows,” Claude Musavuli, a civil society leader and human rights activist in Beni said. He said villagers have been called to identify the bodies.