Lieutenant Jules Tshikudi Ngongo, a regional army spokesperson, said on Thursday that the assault in Bafwakoa, Mambasa territory, Ituri province, also saw 44 homes set on fire.

At least 43 people have been killed in an attack by a rebel group linked to ISIL (ISIS) in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the army said.

Lieutenant Jules Tshikudi Ngongo, a regional army spokesperson, said on Thursday that the assault in Bafwakoa, Mambasa territory, Ituri province, also saw 44 homes set on fire.

Authorities blamed the attack on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group of former Ugandan rebels that has pledged allegiance to ISIL.

The army has struggled to contain the ADF while also facing other armed groups, including the Rwandan-backed M23, which captured several major eastern cities, including Goma, last year.

Baptiste Munyapandi, Mambasa’s territorial administrator, told Reuters that search operations are ongoing and the death toll could rise. Some victims were killed with machetes, others burned inside their homes, and two people were abducted, according to Christian Alimasi, a local customary official.

The ADF’s exact numbers in the DRC are unclear, but the group remains a significant threat. Attacks on civilians have increased in Ituri and North Kivu provinces in recent months despite joint Congolese-Ugandan military operations launched in 2021. Last year, the ADF killed 66 people and abducted others in nearby areas.

Ngongo said the group avoids direct combat with the army, instead targeting civilians as acts of revenge and to sabotage peace efforts.

Data from Insecurity Insight shows that between 2020 and 2025, the ADF was responsible for roughly a quarter of reported violence against civilians in eastern DRC.

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