Six Christians were killed and 470 others flee after militants recently attacked a Christian village in the northeast Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to Open Doors USA, rebel forces raided the predominantly Christian community of Kalau at night where they fired indiscriminately at the villagers. Three women and a 9-year-old child were among those who were killed. Nearly 500 people fled to safety to host families and schools in Beu Commune of Beni city.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) is thought to be responsible for killing at least 700 civilians and more than 20 UN peacekeepers since 2014.
Witnesses revealed that the rebels, who are part of the Allied Democratic Forces, pretended to be security agents when they arrived to Kalau. The militants went straight to the house of the village head where they shot the guard dogs and killed two villagers. The gunfire sent the villagers running.
The attack lasted for four hours and villagers fear more violence would follow. A local leader in Kalau disclosed that, “We have heard the rebels saying they worked for long in the domains of kidnapping and killings, but now they want to move to the stage of occupying the territory. They want to occupy the area they claim as theirs.”
Created in the 1990s by Ugandan Muslim rebels forced out of Uganda, the ADF became the most violent rebel group in DRC in the last two years. The armed group is thought to have killed at least 700 civilians and more than 20 UN peacekeepers since 2014.
Aside from the brutal attacks, Congo is attacked by the deadly Ebola virus. The North Kivu province has been suffering from an Ebola outbreak for eight months and the ADF is not making it easy for help to come to the affected areas.
Emergency relief workers have suspended their operations because of the ADF attacks, reports Safe Travels Magazine. The rebel group may be indirectly responsible for the deaths of those affected by the Ebola virus because of its string of violent attacks in the province.
