by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - Islamic State terrorists in the Democratic Republic of Congo have confirmed that they recently killed 35 people whom they claim are “Christian” in Mukondi village in North Kivu province, the Associated Press reports.
The Islamic State announcement was posted Friday by the terrorists’ news agency Aamaq.
Days before Islamic State took responsibility for the killings in Mukondi village, North Kivu province officials confirmed last week that terrorists with the IS-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces had killed at least 45 people and wounded dozens of others in a spate of attacks on different villages in the region, AP reports.
Eastern Congo has been torn apart by dozens of militia groups fighting for power and influence, but the ADF has been especially deadly: in recent years, this IS-affiliated violent group has continued to operate largely in North Kivu province but has also expanded into neighboring Ituri province and to areas near the regional capital, Goma.
“Efforts to stem the violence against ADF have yielded little,” AP journalist Sam Mednick notes in his report on the recent killings. “A nearly year-long joint operation by Uganda and Congo’s armies did not achieve the expected results of defeating or substantially weakening the group, said a report in December by a panel of U.N. experts. The ADF rebels are accused by the U.N. and rights groups of maiming, raping, and abducting civilians, including children.
In a statement to AP, Col. Charles Ehuta Omeonga, military administrator for the Beni region, confirmed: “As you see in Mukondi, it is always the same. ADF, which is always ill-intentioned against the Congolese. We lost many of our brothers.”