Islamic State–aligned fighters kill at least 20 in Eastern Congo village attack

Fighters aligned with the Islamic State group killed at least 20 people during a weekend assault on a village in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Associated Press reported.

The attack occurred early Saturday in Mambimbi-Isigo, a village in Lubero territory in North Kivu province, according to Col. Alain Kiwewa Mitela, the area’s military administrator. Mitela provided details to The Associated Press in a phone interview. Mitela said the attack forced large numbers of residents to flee, worsening an already dire humanitarian situation in the region.

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed group linked to the Islamic State, were blamed for the assault.

Local civil society representatives told AP that the attackers initially moved through surrounding farmland before entering the village. Civilians were killed using both firearms and bladed weapons, activists said.

The death toll could rise, as several residents remain missing, according to Kinos Kitwa, a civil society leader in Bapere. Kitwa also criticized the limited presence of Congolese government troops in the area, saying it left civilians vulnerable to attack.

The Allied Democratic Forces is a long-standing armed group operating primarily in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, along the mountainous border regions with Uganda. Founded in 1995, the group initially emerged as a Ugandan Islamist rebel movement opposed to the government in Kampala. Over time, it entrenched itself inside Congolese territory, particularly in Beni Territory of North Kivu province.

According to United Nations reporting, the ADF reached an estimated strength of 1,200 to 1,500 armed fighters by 2013, with total membership — including women and children — estimated at between 1,600 and 2,500. Sustained military pressure by the Congolese armed forces and the U.N. peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO) between 2013 and 2014 forced the group to fragment into smaller, highly mobile units dispersed across North Kivu and parts of Ituri province.

The group’s leadership historically centered on its founder, Jamil Mukulu, who served as supreme leader until his arrest in 2015. Military command was led by deputies and shadowy commanders, with operational authority increasingly devolved to local commanders following Mukulu’s detention.

The ADF has been accused of systematic violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, leading to its sanctions and designation of terrorist entity.

U.N. experts and human rights organizations have documented the group’s recruitment and use of child soldiers, including the abduction of children as young as nine, who were forced into combat, logistics, or labor roles. Recruitment networks operating in Uganda lured adults with false promises of employment and children with offers of free education before forcibly transporting them into the DRC.

The group has also been implicated in mass killings, mutilations, sexual violence, and forced displacement, particularly during attacks on rural villages in and around Beni. Between mid-2013 and early 2014 alone, ADF violence displaced more than 66,000 civilians into Uganda, depopulating large areas through killings, abductions, and intimidation designed to prevent residents from returning.

While the DRC has historically avoided labeling most domestic armed groups as terrorist organizations, the ADF represents a notable exception due to its formal alignment with the Islamic State group.

According to the U.S. State Department, prior to this affiliation, the ADF spent several years attempting to embed itself within the global jihadist movement. As early as 2016 and 2017, ADF members used online platforms to refer to the group as Madinat Tauheed Wal Mujahedeen, displaying symbols and flags resembling those used by ISIS.

These efforts culminated in late 2018, when ISIS officially recognized the ADF as an affiliate. Beginning in April 2019, ISIS propaganda outlets publicly claimed responsibility for ADF-attributed attacks, starting with an assault on a FARDC base near Kamango on April 16, 2019. The move marked the group’s incorporation into ISIS’s Central Africa Province (ISCAP).

Despite its formal affiliation with ISIS, the ADF’s tactics, weaponry, and operational methods have remained largely unchanged. Attacks are typically carried out by small, mobile units using small arms and machetes, with an emphasis on close-range violence against civilians in villages where the group has long operated.

Throughout 2019, the ADF carried out persistent attacks against civilians, Congolese security forces, and MONUSCO peacekeepers in North Kivu and southern Ituri. The group announced an escalation in attacks following FARDC offensive operations launched on October 30, 2019, signaling the use of mass violence as retaliation rather than territorial conquest.

In subsequent years, the ADF consolidated its position as the “deadliest armed group” in eastern Congo, particularly in areas where state authority remains weak. Between March and August 2024, the group was responsible for approximately 1,340 civilian deaths across North Kivu and Ituri provinces, with Beni and Lubero accounting for most casualties.

Attacks during this period followed a consistent pattern of village massacres, night raids, and targeted killings aimed at terrorizing communities. In July 2024, ADF militants carried out coordinated attacks against Christian communities in eastern Congo, killing civilians and abducting others, reflecting the group’s increasingly explicit use of religious identity as a marker for violence.

This pattern continued into 2025. On July 26–27, ADF fighters launched a night attack in Komanda, Ituri province, killing dozens of civilians in what the United Nations described as part of an entrenched campaign of atrocities against rural populations. Additional massacres between August 9 and 16 in Beni and Lubero killed at least 52 civilians, including women and children.