ISIS Horror on Congo Border: 40 Villagers Slaughtered in Deadly Night Raid

Kinshasa — A wave of terror swept across eastern Democratic Republic of Congo this week as militants linked to the Islamic State carried out a brutal assault on villages near the Ugandan border, killing at least 40 civilians, burning homes to the ground and looting entire communities.

The attackers, identified as fighters from the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, launched coordinated raids from Wednesday night into Thursday afternoon in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, regions long trapped in a cycle of violence and armed insurgency.

Local civil society leaders said the death toll could rise further as residents remain missing in the aftermath of the attack.

At least 25 people were killed in the Beni area of North Kivu, while another 15 died in neighboring Ituri province, according to Charité Banza, a community leader in Ituri, and local sources on the ground.

Witnesses described scenes of devastation: homes reduced to ashes, families fleeing into forests and roads littered with abandoned belongings as panic spread through the villages.

The ADF, originally formed in Uganda, pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2019 and has since emerged as one of Central Africa’s deadliest militant groups. Human rights organizations and United Nations officials have repeatedly accused the group of targeting civilians in campaigns marked by mass killings, kidnappings and systematic terror.

Earlier this year, Amnesty International accused the group of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. In July 2025, the United Nations described another ADF massacre that killed 66 civilians as a “bloodbath.”

Eastern Congo remains one of the world’s most volatile conflict zones, where dozens of armed groups compete for territory and influence. Alongside the ADF insurgency, the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel movement has seized strategic towns across the region, further destabilizing an already fragile security landscape.

Despite repeated joint military operations by Congolese and Ugandan forces, the dense forests along the border have allowed ADF fighters to regroup and continue launching deadly attacks with alarming frequency.

For many civilians, the latest massacre underscored a grim reality: years of military campaigns and international condemnation have done little to stop the violence.

As the death toll mounts once again, pressure is growing on regional governments and the international community to respond more decisively before another village becomes the next killing ground.
(AP, WP, Al Jazeera, Amnesty International, local Ituri/Beni reports – May 2026)