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CV NEWS FEED // An Islamist terrorist group killed 70 Christians, including children, women, and elderly, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between Feb. 12 and 15, according to international charity organization Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
The bodies were found in a Protestant church in Kasanga, North Kivu, according to Open Doors UK.
A local source, whom ACN did not publicly identify due to safety concerns, told ACN that the bodies were discovered Feb. 15, and many of the victims had been “bound and some beheaded.”
“Among the victims were women, children and the elderly,” ACN’s source said, according to a Feb. 21 press release from the organization.
On Feb. 12, members of Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist terrorist group from Uganda, entered Maiba, a village in the territory of Lubero in North Kivu, and took about 100 people hostage, according to ACN’s sources.
The source posited that the 70 victims were unable to endure the conditions imposed on them after being taken hostage.
“It is likely that these victims were unable to resist or endure the forced march, because when the rebels take hostages, they make them travel with them, either as reinforcements for their group or as forced labour for the war effort,” the source said. “When there is loot, they need people to carry it. If you get tired on the way, you’re done. I believe that is what happened to these 70 people.”
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The ADF, which operates both in the DRC and in Uganda, has been inflicting terror on locals for more than 10 years, according to ACN. A Feb. 21 press release from International Christian Concern (ICC) states that terrorist conflicts in the region have involved the killing of several million people within the past several decades.
ICC reports that ADF is among “many African terrorist organizations aligned with the jihadist Islamic State movement” but is notorious especially for its brutality “and explicit animosity toward Christianity.”
According to ACN, the source said Islamic groups have increased their attacks and killed thousands of civilians and have moved from attacking in remote locations into Lubero, where the 70 were killed.
The terrorists may also be working with “local collaborators” to launch the attacks, the source told ACN.
“That is what is really frightening,” the source said, according to ACN.
ACN reported that another armed group, March 23 Movement (M23), which is backed by Rwanda, has been engaged in severe fighting against the Congolese army in North Kivu and South Kivu. Within the past two months, M23 has taken various cities. As a result, half a million civilians in North Kivu have fled, ACN reported. The source told ACN that there is concern M23 will soon advance on the major city of Butembo in North Kivu.
“We are living through very, very difficult times,” the source said, adding that residents in Butembo are suffering psychologically, as the war is practically at their doorstep.
“We have seen how other regions were overrun by chaos, and now it seems it is our turn,” the source said. “Let us pray. Prayer is what keeps our hope alive amidst this situation we are living through.”
