Al Jazeera reported that ISIS claimed responsibility for the slaughter of over 40 Catholics in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Witnesses claimed they saw members of the Islamist Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an ISIS-affiliated terrorist group, during the attack.
Locals said the terrorists attacked the church in Komanda at 1 AM as over 100 people held a prayer vigil. My heart:
The rebels, armed with guns and machetes, attacked the church in the city of Komanda around 1 a.m. while more than 100 people were holding a nighttime prayer vigil, according to local residents. More bodies were found in burned houses nearby.The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country, citing official reports, said that 43 people had died, including nine children. The Congolese Army said about 40 had been killed.Children, mostly between the ages of 12 and 14, were taken hostage, according to the priest at the church, Sainte Anuarite. The parish was holding a celebration for its 25th anniversary when it was attacked.
The church has been asking local authorities for security. No one has answered.
The terrorists also violated the tabernacle, vandalized the Marian shrine, and spilled consecrated Hosts.
The ADF targets all Christians. In February, the ADF decapitated 70 Christians in a Protestant church in Mayba.
Mayba is about 1,673 miles west of Komanda.
But the ADF targets many civilians. The UN mission to the DRC said the ADF “has been linked to more than 80 civilian deaths in attacks over the past three weeks.”
ADF formed in Uganda in the 1990s but after being pushed out, went into the “borderlands between Uganda and Congo.”
The militants pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2019.
[Featured image via YouTube]
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