Assailants suspected to be ADF rebels have killed seven people in an attack on the city of Beni in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday night.
According to army spokesman Antony Mwalushayi, the army had received information that members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) were preparing to break into Beni’s central prison. As a result, the army sent forces to stop them.
The ADF militants attacked the neighborhoods of Rwangoma and Paida as a distraction, killing people and kidnapping at least one person.
He told newsmen that the attempted prison break was stopped and that the attackers had run towards Virunga National Park.
The ADF is a Ugandan armed organisation that has been active in the eastern Congo’s deep jungles for many years.
“It was around 8 p.m. local time that the ADF enemy surprised us yesterday, while I was at the table with the children,” said Kavira Malekani, a resident of the neighbourhood of Paida.
“We survived in a miraculous way by leaving the food on the table and spending the night on a balcony in town. Other people including my cousin were kidnapped.”
After holding the ADF accountable for a series of explosions in Kampala last year, Uganda has moved at least 1,700 troops to the neighboring Congo to assist in the war against the group.
2020 saw the release of more than 1,300 prisoners from Beni’s main jail by alleged ADF militants.
Recall, on Wednesday, News Central reported that ADF Rebels killed about 20 civilians and kidnapped several in North Kivu province.
Last Thursday, the rebels stormed a local clinic in Lume town, where they slaughtered several people, including the four patients who had been burned alive in the medical center.
According to the UN mission in the DR Congo, other surrounding villages also saw the demolition of hundreds of homes.
At least 30 minors are among the dozens of people reported missing who are thought to have been kidnapped by the organisation.
Last month, the leaders of the East African Community decided to send a regional force to assist the Congolese government in containing the violence in the east.