At least ten people were killed and dozens more were injured in a bomb attack during a service at a Protestant church in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the country’s army stated.
According to the army’s spokesman Anthony Mualushay, at least 10 individuals were killed and 39 others were injured in the blast. The two tolls were temporary, he added.
Mualushay said the attack during the Sunday service in the city of Kasindi, on the border with Uganda, was likely carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan armed group that has pledged allegiance to ISIL (ISIS).
The ISIL group claimed responsbility for the attack later on Sunday, 15th January,2023. The ADF, which began as an uprising in Uganda but has been based in the DRC since the late 1990s.
Survivors and witnesses said the blast severed some people’s limbs from their bodies.
Masika Makasi, 25, from Kasindi, told the Associated Press news agency that she was sitting outside the church beneath a tent when she heard a noise that sounded like a tire going flat. She suffered some injuries whiles her sister-in-law, who was a few feet away died instantly.
“I am traumatised from seeing people die around me,” she said.
Troops from Uganda’s army have deployed to eastern Congo to try to stem the violence, but the attacks have increased and spread. ADF attacks since April have killed at least 370 civilians and involved the abduction of several hundred more, a report by the United Nations last month said.
Source: Aljazeera News