During attacks on towns over the weekend, rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo killed at least 15 civilians as well as an army captain.
Colonel Siro Simba, the military governor of the Ituri region, claimed that rebels with the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) were suspected of attacking Kandoyi village on Friday night and killing 10 people.
The ADF was formed in Uganda in the early 1990s with the aim of ousting long-serving President Yoweri Museveni, whom the rebels accused of persecuting Muslims.
After a major offensive by the Ugandan army in 2001, the group relocated to North Kivu in DR Congo, where it has been blamed for thousands of deaths over the past two decades.
The ADF re-emerged as a major threat in 2014 with a wave of attacks on Congolese civilians, before pledging allegiance to the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group in 2019.
Five people were killed in a different incident on Saturday in the adjacent Bandiboli.
A woman who lost both of her parents said that the rebels had chopped their throats. A UN expert panel claims to have proof that Rwandan soldiers have been fighting alongside the M23 rebel organisation. The charge has been refuted by the Kigali government.
This is coming one week after the Congolese Army killed 11 ADF Rebels in the North Kivu and Ituri regions.
In the DRC, armed organisations that assert to speak for communities involved in interethnic conflicts are frequently referred to as “Mai-Mai.”
In an effort to quell the unrest, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi replaced the state servants in charge of North Kivu and Ituri with security personnel. However, rebel attacks on civilians have persisted.
Of the more than 120 militias that prowl the unrest-plagued east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the ADF is one of the most violent.
Numerous attacks in the North Kivu and Ituri regions as well as bombings in Uganda last year have been attributed to the group.
In an effort to quell the unrest, President Felix Tshisekedi replaced the state servants in charge of North Kivu and Ituri with security personnel.