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2023-01-16 Africa Subsaharan
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Islamic State group blamed in church bombing that killed 10 in Congo
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[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
An alleged terrorist bombing of a Pentecostal church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
 ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo , which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
killed 10 people and injured at least 39 more on Sunday.
The government of Congo accused Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
terrorist group the Allied Democratic Forces
 ...the ADF is one of several murderous Moslem groups in NE Congo. In 2019 the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on them for the usual reasons. They don't appear to be affiliated with al-Qaeda or Islamic State, though ISIS claims their work from time to time — they just like killing infidels....
of the attack.
"The Government strongly condemns the kaboom visibly perpetrated by ADF terrorists, this Sunday 15/01/2023, against citizens in full worship in the parish of the 8th Community of Pentecostal Churches of Congo in the city of Kasindi in North Kivu," Congo's Ministry of Transportation and Communication said in a statement.
The church is located in Kisindi, a town in Congo's North Kivu province about 5 miles away from Beni, which is known to have heavy ADF activity.
The bomb used in the attack was an improvised bomb.
Military spokesperson Antony Mualushayi said the scene is under control and an investigation is underway.
The U.S. Congress describes ADF as an "armed group primarily active in the Democratic Republic of Congo." In its September report on the organization it said the group has pledged allegiance to ISIS and poses a threat to long-running efforts by the United States to help stabilize the DRC.
Details of the attack are hazy, but Congolese military front man Antony Mualushayi said the "terrorist act" happened in a Pentecostal church in North Kivu province's Kasindi, a town on the border with Uganda.
A Kenyan was arrested following the kaboom, he added, although the perpetrator of the attack in the turbulent region remains unclear.
The explosion killed at least 10 people and maimed 39, Mualushayi said, revising up an initial corpse count of five. Both tolls were provisional, he said.
Joel Kitausa, a local civil-society figure, also put the corpse count at 10, and said 58 people had been maimed.
But the front man for Uganda's military operation in the DRC, Bilal Katamba, said on Sunday evening that 16 people had been killed in the blast, and 20 maimed.
"The attackers used an IED to carry out the attack and we suspect ADF is behind the attack," he added.
AFP was unable to independently confirm the corpse count.
The DRC's communications ministry said on social media that the attack was apparently carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which the Islamic State group claims as its affiliate in central Africa.
The ADF is one of the deadliest of the more than 120 gangs in eastern DRC, many of them 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 kabooms in Uganda. ADF operatives have also planted bombs in towns in North Kivu in the past.
'MORE VISIBLE AND MORE LETHAL'
In 2021, the United States labelled the ADF a "foreign terrorist organization" with links to the Islamic State group. The militia is active mainly in North Kivu and neighbouring Ituri province.
The same year, a joint Congolese-Ugandan military operation began targeting the ADF inside the DRC.
But the attacks have continued.
A report by independent experts for the UN Security Council, released in December, said the ADF had "continued its geographic expansion" despite the Congolese-Ugandan military operation, killing at least 370 civilians since April 2022.
It also warned that the ADF was changing tactics: opting for "more visible and more lethal" kabooms in urban areas, said the report.
In April last year, for example, a woman detonated a boom jacket in a bar in North Kivu's capital Goma, according to the independent UN experts. Six people died in the attack and 16 more were maimed.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi placed North Kivu and Ituri under a so-called state of siege in 2021 in a bid to stem the violence, with military officials replacing civilian administrators.
The measure has also largely failed to stop attacks against civilians. 
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Posted by Fred 2023-01-16 00:00||
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