At least 20 people were killed when fighters linked to the Islamic State group attacked a village in eastern Congo over the weekend, according to the military and local civil society figures.
The attack took place early Saturday in Mambimbi-Isigo, in Lubero territory in North Kivu province, military administrator Col. Alain Kiwewa Mitela told AP. He said the assault by the Allied Democratic Forces caused mass displacement in an area already facing a deep humanitarian emergency.
Civil society activists in the area said the attackers first raided several farmers’ fields before moving against civilians with knives and firearms. Kinos Kitwa, who heads civil society in Bapere, said the toll was still provisional because many civilians were missing.
The ADF has long been one of the deadliest armed groups active in eastern Congo. The AP report says the group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2019 and operates along the border with Uganda, where it often targets civilians. The same report notes that at least 62 civilians had already been killed this year by ADF fighters in the Beni and Lubero territories.
The attack came as U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix began a two-day official visit to eastern Congo, including Beni, a region that has been repeatedly hit by ADF violence. That timing underscores how persistent the insecurity remains even as international officials continue to visit the area.
The AP report also places the attack in the broader landscape of armed conflict in eastern Congo, where the ADF and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels are among the groups carrying out repeated deadly assaults. The result is a cycle of displacement and fear that repeatedly pushes civilians away from their homes and fields.
The military administrator said the attack has aggravated an already dire humanitarian situation. That description is consistent with the local reality reflected in the report: people are missing, families are displaced, and the toll may still rise as the search continues.
The ADF’s history helps explain why the attack drew so much concern. AP reports that the group was formed in Uganda in the late 1990s, moved into Congo after military strikes in 2002 and has been blamed for the killings of thousands of civilians. It also notes that a series of attacks in July 2025 killed more than 100 people.
For local residents, the immediate story is not the group’s history but the sudden loss of safety in a village that was attacked at dawn. The provisional death toll, the missing residents and the mass flight from the area together suggest a crisis that is still unfolding rather than one that has ended with the first count.
The attack adds another grim entry to the record of violence in North Kivu, where civilians remain exposed to armed groups even when the international and national security focus is elsewhere.
