At least 35 people have lost their lives and about 15 remain missing after a new wave of attacks attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed group linked to the jihadist movement Islamic State, in several localities in Ituri province, in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Local officials and activists from the territory of Mambasa, where the affected villages are located, have explained that the attackers set fire to numerous houses and vehicles before withdrawing from the area, while warning that the number of deaths could rise as the search activities move forward and the toll is updated.
At the same time, the ADF have been identified as responsible for new assaults in the last hours against two localities and a camp located in the same area, although for the moment there is no confirmed data on possible deaths or injuries, since these are remote and virtually cut-off areas, according to Radio Okapi, the Congolese broadcaster.
This extremist group has intensified its operations in recent months in eastern DRC, where it has killed dozens of civilians, especially in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, regions in which it maintains its main strongholds and from which it launches most of its incursions.
The ADF appeared in the 1990s in Uganda, although in 2019 there was an internal split after its top leader swore allegiance to the Islamic State in Central Africa (ISCA) --the regional branch of the jihadist group--, under whose banner it has operated since then.