At least 89 Christians have been slaughtered by jihadists in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Open Doors, which monitors Christian persecution around the world, claimed some 70 were killed while worshiping at a funeral service, with the rest slain in the villages of Potodu and Ntoyo in the DRC’s North Kivu region.
Many more villagers are missing. The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant activities, told Reuters the death toll had approached 100.
Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) group, also known as Islamic State Central Africa Province, linked to ISIS — the same group that allegedly killed 49 Christians while they were praying for peace in a church in the DRC village of Komanda in July, and a further 66 earlier in Irumu.
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A local pastor, Rev. Mbula Samaki, told an Open Doors partner from the scene: “They arrived and started killing. Those who tried to flee were shot dead, and others were killed with machetes.”
Fox News Digital has seen a verified video of the aftermath. It is too distressing to share, showing bodies of small children and women lying on the ground. The pitiful screaming of surviving family members can be heard. Another image is said to show that some of the victims had their hands tied behind their backs.
An African Open Doors partner with extensive knowledge of the events, who must have her identity hidden for her safety, told Fox News Digital there have been multiple other attacks by the ADF that have not been reported. “If we take just August, there’s been over 10, we have documented 10 attacks, but there have been a lot more which go unreported. And sometimes two or three villages are attacked at the same time.”
“The people, they say we are tired, when will this come to an end? Because it’s every day you hear someone has been killed. You can find a family where two or three family members have been killed, or a child whose both parents have been killed. So it’s pain, it’s agony.”
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President Donald Trump announced a peace deal for the DRC in June. But local combatants, sources say, only appear willing to get it to work in the area around the eastern city of Goma. The ADF, by contrast, is increasing its attacks. This area is almost exclusively Christian. The ADF attackers are all Islamist militants bent, observers say, on forcing Christians off their land and determined to stop Christians from practicing their faith.
DRC forces are trying to push back against the ADF. But as one local source told Fox News Digital, “it’s largely insufficient.”
Following last month’s attack, a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “The Trump administration condemns in the strongest terms this horrific violence against Christians in the DRC and is committed to advancing the Washington Accords to bring peace back to the region and end targeted killings.”
A Christian leader with on-the-ground knowledge added, “if the Trump administration can pay attention to what’s happening in the east of the DRC with ADF as they do, maybe with other countries like Ukraine, I think they can mount pressure on the DRC government and even support them to address these ADF attacks more properly.”
“If these people, these powers that be, and that can change things, can see this as a family, as a child whose father no longer lives. If they can just see it as people, not numbers, it’s not incidents, it’s people. It’s like their lives are less worth it, less worth being spoken of. And I don’t think that’s right. Everybody deserves to live.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for comment, but did not receive a response.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.
