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The ADF are a Ugandan Islamist group who began an insurgency in 1996. It spread to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and intensified during the 2010s. Their attacks in North Kivu include a massacre in Beni in 2016.[1] During the late 2010s, the group began to affiliate with the Islamic State.[2] In 2020, Musa Baluku proclaimed that the ADF had ceased to exist and was succeeded by the Islamic State's Central Africa Province.[3] In North Kivu, during January 2023, the ADF carried out massacres in Kasindi,[4][5]Makugwe[6] and Kirindera.[7]
In March 2023, nine people were killed and several others went missing following the armed attack carried out by ADF terrorists in the Nguli village in the Lubero territory, North Kivu.[8][9][10] In the same month, the rebels took civilians hostage in the village of Katiri in Isale Kasongwere Groupement, in the Beni Territory, North Kivu.[11][12] Parenthetically, the insurgents also erected a stronghold in the Virunga National Park between the villages of Kavasewa and Karuruma.[13]
Attack
Abductions
At 4:00 am on February 12, 2025, armed members of the Allied Democratic Forces entered the village of Mayba, in Lubero Territory, North Kivu, where they ordered residents to come out of their homes. They immediately took at least 20 civilians captive and left before returning at around 6:00 pm. Upon returning the ADF militants surrounded the village and rounded up an additional 50 civilians.[14][15]
Killings
The captives were taken to a Protestant CECA 20 church in Kasanga, a neighbouring village near Lubero in Lubero Territory, North Kivu, where they were tied up and executed by machetes.[16][17][18] The bodies were discovered on February 14, still in the church.[19]
Reactions
The attack was widely reported in local media, with organizations such as Open Doors UK claiming to be "100% confident" in the accuracy of the reports. However, MONUSCO, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the DRC, released a statement on 24 February stating that the reports "remain unverified." The International Committee of the Red Cross declined to confirm or deny the claims.[20] In its statement, MONUSCO acknowledged that a civil society source had reported discovering over 70 bodies, including those of women, children, and elderly individuals, inside a church building in Maiba village. The victims were allegedly bound and executed with bladed weapons by unidentified assailants. Open Doors UK and other Christian advocacy organizations condemned the attack, citing it as an example of growing religious persecution in the region.[citation needed]
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ISIL 
