*Event date: 2025-07-27*
An attack attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces killed 43 people in Komanda, in Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on 27 July, according to Radio Okapi. About 20 of the victims were killed with bladed weapons during a Catholic prayer vigil, making the assault both a mass killing and a deliberate attack on civilians gathered for worship.
The report says the victims were taken by surprise in the night from Saturday into Sunday. That detail matters because it shows the attack was not a battlefield exchange but a raid on people who were gathered in a place of prayer and in nearby homes and shops. The source says other bodies were found in burned houses and businesses close to the church, including that of a man burned to death in an incendiated truck.
Komanda is a commercial centre, so the attack struck not only a congregation but also the surrounding civic life of the town. The report says residents awoke in shock and began going to the scene to identify victims and assess the damage. That reaction is typical of a community confronting a sudden slaughter: grief first, then the grim work of counting the dead and searching for the missing.
Authorities said they received the alert around 2 a.m. after smoke rose from the burning houses. By the time forces reached the area, the attackers had already left. They were said to have come from a stronghold at Mont Hoyo and moved along the Bogi road, about 12 kilometres from the centre of Komanda. Those route details point to planning and local familiarity, even if the full operational picture remains unclear.
The source notes that FARDC, UPDF and local police were mobilised to secure the town and track the militia. It also says this attack came after months of relative calm in the area, which makes the violence feel even more shocking to residents who had begun returning home. The fact that people had been coming back to Komanda after displacement underscores how fragile any period of peace had been.
At 43 dead, this is one of the most severe attacks in the packet. It combines religious targeting, civilian slaughter and arson into a single event that will deepen fear across Ituri. The report does not provide an exact count of the injured, and it does not identify the victims individually, but the death toll alone makes the scale unmistakable.
For Komanda, the immediate reality is loss on a scale few communities can absorb easily. For eastern Congo more broadly, it is another reminder that armed groups can still move quickly, strike hard and leave behind burned buildings, shattered families and an even thinner margin of trust in security guarantees.
