Sawt Falasteen - Victims buried after IS-linked attack in DR Congo

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), who pledged allegiance to IS in 2019, have carried out several deadly attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu and Ituri provinces since late July, leaving more than 150 civilians dead according to an AFP tally.

The most recent attack on Monday night struck the village of Ntoyo in North Kivu killing at least 71 people and wounding others.

Hours before Wednesday's hurriedly organised funeral for some of the victims, Ntoyo was almost emptied of its inhabitants, AFP journalists reported.

Several bodies were still lying on the ground while local youths dug graves under the watch of Congolese military personnel.

Twenty-five bodies were buried in the afternoon.

Relatives accused the authorities of "inaction".

Congolese soldiers were stationed about 10 kilometres from the attack site, in the mining town of Manguredjipa, but did not respond in time, according to local and security sources.

"It is incomprehensible that despite the presence of soldiers, the enemy continues to kill the population," Samuel Kakule, who heads the local civil society organisation, told AFP at the funeral.

The ADF had already killed more than 40 people in attacks on several settlements in the Bapere sector on August 13 and 14.

Just over two weeks before, the group triggered international outrage by killing dozens of worshippers, including women and children, in a raid on a Catholic church in the town of Komanda.

- Decades of violence -

For more than 30 years the mineral-rich eastern DRC has been a battleground between various armed groups, backed at times by foreign powers, vying for control of its many mines.

In recent months, the Rwanda-backed M23 militia has seized swathes of the Congolese east in the North and South Kivu provinces since renewing its armed activities in 2021.

After swift offensives between January and February, the M23 now controls the major cities of Goma and Bukavu.

The Congolese and Rwandan governments signed a peace deal in June, and the Congolese government signed a separate declaration of principles with the M23 in July, but violence has continued on the ground.

Q.Jaber--SF-PST