More than 50 civilians were killed at a funeral in the town of Ntoyo in North Kivu province after attackers from the Allied Democratic Forces struck a mourning ceremony Monday night, local officials said.
Macaire Sivikunula, a local administrator, said the provisional death toll was 50 and that many victims were killed with machetes as they were caught off guard around 9 p.m. Colonel Alain Kiwewa, the military administrator for Lubero territory, said the toll could be about 60 and may rise as searches continue and people remain missing.
Samuel Kagheni, a local civil society leader, said assailants used machetes, shot some victims and set fire to vehicles. A resident, Alain Kahindo Kinama, said Congolese soldiers arrived at the scene on Tuesday morning and that many people were attempting to leave the area. Lieutenant Marc Elongo, a spokesman for the Congolese army, said soldiers intervened only after the militants had "already committed the massacre."
There was no immediate comment from the Allied Democratic Forces, an armed group that began as an uprising in Uganda and has been based in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since the late 1990s. The group has been recognised by the Islamic State militant group as an affiliate and has carried out a string of deadly attacks across the region in recent months.
The Ntoyo assault is the latest large-scale attack attributed to the ADF. In July, an attack on a church in eastern Congo killed 38 people, and authorities said the group was responsible for multiple deadly incidents the previous month that together left more than 50 civilians dead. The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group reported that the ADF had claimed responsibility for five recent attacks on Christian civilians and for strikes against Congolese and Ugandan forces.
Congo's army and troops from neighbouring Uganda have said they have intensified operations against the ADF in recent weeks. The violence compounds insecurity in eastern Congo, a mineral-rich region that has also seen advances by other armed groups, including the M23 rebel movement earlier this year, and has prompted diplomatic and regional efforts to stabilise the area.
Local authorities and humanitarian actors face immediate challenges in accounting for the dead, treating the wounded and supporting displaced residents. Congolese military and civilian officials said searches were continuing in and around Ntoyo to locate missing people and secure the area.
The attack is likely to increase pressure on national and regional authorities to accelerate security operations and humanitarian responses in North Kivu. International monitoring groups have documented repeated cycles of violence in the province, where armed groups routinely target civilians during raids, funerals and religious gatherings.
Investigations into the Ntoyo massacre are ongoing, and authorities have appealed for calm as they work to restore security and assist survivors.