Islamist rebels kill at least 43 in overnight raid in DR Congo

At least 43 people have been killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after militants linked to the Islamic State launched a deadly overnight raid, local officials said on Thursday.

Fighters from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan Islamist group aligned with Islamic State, attacked Bafwakoa village late Wednesday, burning homes and killing residents as they fled, according to local civil society representatives.

“They set fire to houses in the village,” said Samuel Banapia, a civil society leader in the region, speaking by phone.

The Congolese army confirmed 43 deaths but local authorities warned the toll could be higher , at least 56 people were reported dead, with several others missing and two villagers believed to have been taken hostage.

Lt. Jules Ngongo, a spokesperson for the army in eastern Congo, said the ADF often targets civilians to retaliate against military pressure. “The ADF avoids direct combat with the army and its partners,” he said. “That’s why they attack the population , as a way of sabotaging peace efforts and taking revenge on our people.”

The ADF, which emerged in Uganda in the late 1990s and pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2019, has entrenched itself in Congo’s eastern provinces. The group carries out frequent attacks on civilians in remote areas near the border with Uganda and further south toward Goma and Ituri.

The latest massacre underscores the ongoing security crisis in eastern Congo, where the army continues to battle multiple insurgent groups, including the Rwandan-backed M23, which captured several major towns last year.

ADF attacks have intensified in recent years despite regional military operations. In 2025, the militants killed at least 66 people in a nearby district and abducted several others, highlighting the persistent instability gripping the mineral-rich region.