Islamic militants attack Congo villages near Uganda, killing 40 people, local group says

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — An Islamic State-affiliated group attacked villages in Congo near the border with Uganda, killing at least 40 people and burning and looting homes, a local civil society group said Friday.

The attacks were carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces overnight from Wednesday through Thursday afternoon, according to Charité Banza, the leader of the Ituri civil society group and Kinos Katua, a member of the group who lives in the area.

The Allied Democratic Forces, which has roots in Uganda and which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2019, has long operated in the border region.

Banza told The Associated Press that 25 people were killed in border villages in the Beni territory of North Kivu while 15 others were killed in Ituri province.

The death toll may rise because several residents were still missing after the attacks, Katua said.

In a recent report this week, Amnesty International accused the Allied Democratic Forces of “war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

The ADF is one of the numerous groups operating in Congo and it routinely attacks civilians. In July 2025, the group killed 66 people in eastern Congo in what the United Nations called a “bloodbath.”

The country also faces attacks from roughly 100 other rebel groups, most prominently the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, which has seized key cities in the eastern region.