An army spokesman for the area emphasised that the DRC’s armed forces (FARDC) had “neutralised four terrorists” and “freed four young girls” who had been abducted, but he did not clarify the number of casualties.
According to local accounts, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group is to blame for the deaths of at least ten people during an attack in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The mayor of Mangina, Emmanuel Kathembo Salamu, stated, “This morning, the ADF raided Mangodomu (in the Mangina commune, Beni territory), to visibly stock up on medicine and food.”
“They set fire to a pavilion at the health centre, looted the stores and burned down the houses.”
The ADF, which was founded in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1995, was held accountable by Salamu. Thousands of civilians have been slaughtered by its followers since then.
In 2019, the ADF swore loyalty to the Daesh.
“The adversary and the troops are in communication. Here, psychosis rules,” declared the mayor.
According to Muongozi Kakule Vunyatsi of the A Mangina civil society association, the ADF launched an attack on the Mangodomu district in the middle of the morning.
He announced the preliminary death toll as ten civilians, one of them a health center patient.
A regional army official, Captain Antony Mwalushayi, would not confirm the number of casualties but emphasised that the DRC’s armed forces (FARDC) had “neutralised four terrorists” and “freed four young girls” who were abducted.
The head of the commune’s “youth parliament,” Nicaisse Kasereka, said, “The army’s intervention arrived a little late, our soldiers here in Mangina do not even have a vehicle for their interventions.”
The militaries of Uganda and the Congo began a combined military assault against the ADF in late 2021, but they have not been able to halt their operations.
SOURCE: TRTWORLD
