According to Katanga Matete, an administrator in the Bukokoma area, militants “were opening doors and decapitating people with hatchets and machetes”. 

A local Red Cross official, Albert Ndungo, reported that 12 people, including 4 women and children were murdered by “bladed weapons”. 

The conflict in the DRC, which has been ongoing since the 1990s, has led to approximately 6 million deaths. The ADF, an affiliate of ISIS is primarily responsible for the brutal attacks in the predominantly Christian nation.

Currently, the eastern DRC is the source of ethnic conflict and violent competition between ethnic militias, Congolese security forces, UN troops, and others.

Since October 2022, at least 1,334 people, including 107 children, have been killed in these eastern provinces, according to a report released by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The ADF kidnaps women, rapes them and forces them to marry their soldiers, with Christian women sometimes being kept as a kind of ‘trophy’.

People who have become Christians from Muslim or indigenous backgrounds face pressure to still participate in traditional religious activities. Women who have converted to Christianity may be forcibly married, impregnated or divorced. Throughout the DRC, Christian leaders who speak out against corruption experience harassment and interference from the government.

Source: https://www.persecution.org/