By Spy Uganda Correspondent
Kinshasa: At least 16 civilians were killed overnight from Saturday to Sunday in several simultaneous attacks by ADF-Ugandan rebels in North Kivu province and Ituri province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to military sources.
READ ALSO: DRC In Tears As ADF Rebels Slaughter Over 21 In Fresh Attacks!
”The ADF fighters decapitated eight villagers in the village of Boyo, in the northeast Ituri province, and shot dead two civilians in Kainama and the Soldiers were in pursuit of the attackers,” army spokesman Lieutenant Jules Ngongo said.
In the province of North Kivu, at least 10 civilians were killed in the attack. In the neighboring province of Ituri, another branch of the same rebellion launched the attack at the village of Boyo and killed six civilians.
READ ALSO: Sad! 16 Killed As ADF Rebels Attack Villages Days After Slaughtering 25
The rebels clashed with elements of the DRC Armed Forces (FARDC) until late at night, according to Ituri army spokesman Jules Ngongo.
It has been several months that the foreign rebellion of the ADF-Ugandan group has been carrying out simultaneous attacks in the two neighboring provinces despite military operations of the DRC supported by the UN mission.
READ ALSO: Security Alert: 40 Ugandan ADF Rebels Arrested
The ADF militia is Ugandan Islamic fighters who have made their base in eastern DR Congo since 1995.
While they have not launched raids into Uganda for several years, the militia has been blamed for the killings of more than 800 civilians over the past year in both North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.
While the army has conducted operations against them in the region since October 2019, they have not been able to put a stop to the massacres of civilians.
After a relatively calm period in January, its fighters have stepped up attacks on civilians since February in Beni, North Kivu province, and Irumu, in Ituri.
But they are just one of the dozens of armed groups that have been operating in the mineral-rich border region of eastern DR Congo for decades now.
One recent report by analysts the Kivu Security Tracker estimated there were at least 122 armed groups active in DR Congo’s four eastern border provinces, from north to south: Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, and Tanganyika.
