20 confirmed dead during ADF attacks on Ituri villages

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At least 20 people have been killed since Tuesday February 25  as attacks by rebels of the Allied Democratic Force (ADF)  terrorized ten villages in the Babila Bakwanza chiefdom in the territory of Mambasa (Ituri).

According to civil  society sources, ADF rebels first attacked the villages of Pesa, Kadika, Mekanya, Bawenzi, Bandenge and Leta on Tuesday.

The next day, another group of these rebels raided the villages of Credit, Gbado, Balisoma, Mekingi, Samboko and Matolo, located along the Ituri River.

The New Congolese Civil Society of Mambasa indicates that these rebels killed at least twenty people and took twenty others hostage, including children.

The coordinator of this citizen structure, Jospin Paluku, who quotes the village chief of Matolo, indicates that the search for other bodies continues in the bush.

“We recommend to the Congolese Government to relaunch joint FARDC-UPDF operations in the Mambasa territory because we note that the enemy seems to be returning with great aggressiveness,” he continues in  report  published  by  United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( MONUC).

The administrator of the Mambasa territory, Jean-Baptiste Munyapandi,  who did not give the causality details however revealed that the army has been in pursuit of the enemy since Monday:

“There were three cells that were visited by the ADF where a woman was killed. The soldiers went in pursuit of the enemy.”

These attacks caused the movement of populations to more secure environments.

According to civil society, this is the first attack by these rebels since the beginning of this year in this entity, after a lull of around three months.