At least 17 people have been killed and about 20 others injured in a bomb attack on Sunday on an evangelical church in Kasindi, a border town between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, according to the Congolese government, which attributed the attack to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
The spokesman of the operational command Sokola I of the North Kivu region, scene of the explosion, Captain Anthony Mualushayi, confirmed the arrest of a suspect of Kenyan nationality for interrogation.
The government has «strongly» condemned this attack perpetrated in the middle of a mass celebrated in the 8th Community of Pentecostal Churches of Congo and which would be «evidently» the work of the ADF, according to the Congolese news portal Actualité.
«The security services have taken control of the site following an explosion that caused several deaths and material damage. The injured are being evacuated to medical facilities,» the Congolese Ministry of Communication has explained. «Investigations are underway to detect the origin of this terrorist act,» it added.
The authorities have reiterated the recommendations to «avoid crowds» and «be vigilant» in this area which is a recurrent target of ADF attacks, in particular on the Beni-Kasindi road.
«The results of the ongoing preliminary investigations will be communicated in the coming hours. The government wishes to convey its saddest condolences to the families of the victims of this despicable terrorist act,» said government spokesman Patrick Muyaya, quoted by Radio Okapi.
The ADF is a Ugandan group created in the 1990s particularly active in eastern DRC and accused of the killing of hundreds of civilians in this part of the country.
The group went through a split in 2019 after Musa Baluku – sanctioned by the United Nations and the United States – swore allegiance to the jihadist group Islamic State in Central Africa (ISCA), under whose banner it has been acting ever since. The increase of its attacks on Ugandan soil and the claim of an attack in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, led both countries to launch joint operations in eastern DRC.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
