Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a horrific attack on a Catholic church in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where up to 43 people were slaughtered, some of them children taking part in a Christian summer camp.
The massacre occurred in the early hours of Sunday, 27th July, when militants from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamic State–affiliated terrorist group, stormed a Catholic church in Komanda, a village in Ituri Province. Worshippers, including children from the Eucharistic Crusade movement, had gathered for a night prayer vigil as part of their summer holiday activities.
At around 1am, the attackers entered the church compound. Some victims were shot, others hacked to death with machetes. According to Fr Marcelo Oliveira, a Comboni missionary in North Kivu, “a large number of children” were murdered, both inside the church building and in the surrounding compound. He told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), “We continue to pray for peace in this immense country and to ask for the grace of peace.”
Though the official death toll is still being verified, the UN-backed broadcaster Radio Okapi reports that at least 43 people were killed. Many of the attackers are believed to have come from a known ADF stronghold located just 12 kilometres from Komanda. The militants also set fire to homes and shops in the area before fleeing back into the bush before security forces could respond.
Islamic State claimed responsibility through its Telegram channel, stating that fighters had targeted the Christian congregation and boasted about the scale of the killing. ADF, which originates from Uganda, has carried out numerous atrocities in eastern Congo and formally pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2019. Since then, it has rebranded itself as part of the “Central Africa Province” of the so-called Islamic Caliphate.
The tragedy in Komanda is the latest in a wave of escalating attacks on Christians in the region. In February this year, ADF was responsible for another massacre in Lubero, where around 70 people were killed and their bodies left in a Protestant church, many of them beheaded. Over 1.6 million people have been displaced in Ituri Province alone, where armed groups battle for control of land and resources in one of the world’s most unstable conflict zones.
The Vatican has expressed sorrow over the deaths, and international condemnation has followed swiftly, including statements from Italy’s foreign ministry and the Bishops’ Conference of France.
