OAN’s Brooke Mallory
Friday, June 7, 2024 5:22 PM
More than 60 Christians were killed in a recent brutal attack in the Masala area of Beni city in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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The massacre was blamed on ISIS, which has now claimed responsibility for it. telegramBritish Express According to reports.
The death toll previously reported has been much lower.
The statement said: telegram The terrorist organization made its case on the channel, writing that “More than 60 Christians, including a Congolese army officer, have been killed in an attack by Caliphate forces in eastern Congo, a Central African country.”
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has recently seen an increase in attacks by Islamic extremists, particularly in the eastern part of the country.
“This horrific attack left a trail of devastation and despair, with devastating loss of life and destruction of property,” one survivor said in an interview. International Christian Concerns.
The latest claims by ISIS illustrate a broader trend of violence against Christians in the region.
At least 11 Christians were killed in the attack on May 13.Number The attack occurred in the village of Ndimbo in Ituri province, where many people were kidnapped and houses were set on fire.
Fourteen Catholics were killed in an ambush by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia linked to ISIS, in the town of Eringeti, where firearms and machetes were used to massacre the victims.
“The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano reported that many of the victims were ‘very young’ and targeted because ‘they refused to convert to Islam.'” Express.
More than 100 armed groups and foreign troops have been fighting for control of eastern Congo’s “vast mineral wealth” for more than 30 years.
The toll is staggering: around six million people have died since 1996.
Since then, approximately one million Congolese have fled to neighbouring countries, including Angola, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia, and a further 6.1 million have become internally displaced.
“ISIS-Democratic Republic of the Congo (ISIS-DRC), also known as ISIS-Central Africa and locally as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), is one of the most dangerous extremist groups in eastern Congo. The group began as an anti-government insurgency in Uganda and was publicly recognized as an affiliate of ISIS by ISIS leaders in Syria in 2019. ISIS-DRC follows ISIS’s strict interpretation of Islamic law and seeks to expand ISIS’ self-declared caliphate into Central Africa,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence report states. “Counter-Terrorism” Guide.
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