DR Congo: IS group claims bomb attack at church

A bomb killed at least 10 people and wounded about four dozen others Sunday (15 January) in a bomb attack on a church in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) claimed by Islamic State jihadists.

The “terrorist act” happened in a Pentecostal church in North Kivu province’s Kasindi, a town on the border with Uganda, Congolese military spokesman, Antony Mualushayi, said. The spokesman for Uganda’s military operation in the DRC, Bilal Katamba, said on the same day that “the attackers used an IED to carry out the attack and we suspect Allied Democratic Forces is behind the attack,“ killing 16 people, wounding 20 others. The DRC’s communications ministry said on social media that the attack was apparently carried out by the Islamic State group-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

The ADF is one of the deadliest of the more than 120 armed groups in eastern DRC, many of them being the legacy of regional wars that flared at the turn of the century. It has been accused of slaughtering thousands of Congolese civilians and carrying out bomb attacks in Uganda. ADF operatives have also planted bombs in towns in North Kivu in the past. The Islamic State group has subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that “nearly 20” people had been killed. DRC army spokesman Mualushayi said a Kenyan suspect was arrested in the wake of the attack.