Kirindera massacre | |
---|---|
Part of Allied Democratic Forces insurgency and Kivu conflict | |
Location | Kirindera, Beni Territory, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo |
Date | March 12, 2023 1am |
Deaths | 19 |
Injured | Unknown |
Perpetrator | ISCAP |
On March 12, 2023, jihadists from the Allied Democratic Forces (also known as ISCAP) attacked the village of Kirindera, Beni Territory, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing nineteen civilians. The massacre occurred days after the Mukondi massacre, where the ADF/ISCAP killed around forty civilians,
The Allied Democratic Forces, an extremist Islamist militant group based near in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, officially pledged bay'ah to the Islamic State in 2018, with IS claiming responsibility for ADF attacks in 2019. The ADF eventually formed to become the Islamic State – Central Africa Province (ISCAP), and attacked civilians en masse in North Kivu. [1]
The Kirindera massacre came as part of a larger campaign by ISCAP in early 2023 to attack civilians in Beni Territory. Days before the massacre, around forty civilians were killed in the Mukondi massacre. [2]
The massacre began at 1am local time on March 12, 2023. [3] In the attack, the jihadists first targeted a health center where they killed two people before moving onto the reception center of a motel where civilians were hiding. [4] [2] Eleven civilians were killed in the motel. [5] In the valley where they jihadists entered the village from, two more people were killed. [5] The health center, hotel, and many civilian homes and five cars were also burnt by the jihadists. [5] Congolese officials stated that nineteen people were killed in the massacre, and an unknown number more were kidnapped by ISCAP. [2]
The mayor of Kirindera, Joachim Vyaghulua, stated that he coordinated a FARDC intervention during the massacre. [5]
The Allied Democratic Forces is an Islamist rebel group in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It considered a terrorist organisation by the Ugandan government and the United States. It was originally based in western Uganda but has expanded into the neighbouring DRC. Most Ugandan ADF fighters are Muslims from the Baganda and Basoga ethnic groups.
The Allied Democratic Forces insurgency is an ongoing conflict waged by the Allied Democratic Forces in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, against the governments of those two countries and the MONUSCO. The insurgency began in 1996, intensifying in 2013, resulting in hundreds of deaths. The ADF is known to currently control a number of hidden camps which are home to about 2,000 people; in these camps, the ADF operates as a proto-state with "an internal security service, a prison, health clinics, and an orphanage" as well as schools for boys and girls.
The 2017 Semuliki attack was an attack carried out by elements of the Allied Democratic Forces on a United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) operating base in the Beni Territory, North Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on December 7, 2017. The attack was highly coordinated and resulted in the deaths of fifteen U.N. peacekeeping personnel and wounds to 53 others making it the deadliest incident for the U.N. since the deaths of twenty-four Pakistani peacekeepers in an ambush in Somalia in 1993. The attack was among many of the latest flare-ups in violence in the North Kivu region which borders Uganda and Rwanda and one of the ADF's deadliest attacks in recent history. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres labeled the attack, "the worst attack on UN peacekeepers in the organization's recent history."
The Central Africa Province is an administrative division of the Islamic State (IS), a Salafi jihadist militant group and unrecognised quasi-state. As a result of a lack of information, the foundation date and territorial extent of the Central Africa Province are difficult to gauge, while the military strength and activities of the province's affiliates are disputed. The Central Africa Province initially covered all IS activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and Uganda. In September 2020, during the insurgency in Cabo Delgado, IS-CAP shifted its strategy from raiding to actually occupying territory, and declared the Mozambican town of Mocímboa da Praia its capital. After this point, however, the Mozambican branch declined and was split off from IS-CAP in 2022, becoming a separate IS province; as a result, this leaves IS-CAP to operate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
The 2020 Democratic Republic of the Congo attacks were a series of attacks which took place in 2020. The attacks were mostly carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a radical Islamist rebel group and the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO), an agricultural and religious group made up of ethnic Lendu people. The attacks left at least 1,316 people dead and 132 injured.
From late October to mid November 2021, the Islamic State organization carried out four bombing attacks across Uganda.
On 22 January 2023 in Makugwe in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Islamists killed about 20 people.
On the night on June 5, 2022, militants from Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked the village of Bwanasura, in Otomabere, North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The attack killed over twenty civilians, marking one of the deadliest attacks by the ADF in 2022.
During 8–9 March 2023, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) carried out a massacre in the village of Mukondi in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Between August 25 and 30, 2022, fighters of the Allied Democratic Forces attacked six villages in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing over fifty-four people.
Between the night of April 3–4, 2022, Allied Democratic Forces jihadists attacked the village of Masambo, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 21 people.
Between January 28 and 30, 2020, the Islamic State – Central Africa Province (ISCAP) killed at least seventy-three people in a series of massacres in Oicha Territory, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The attacks spanned across several towns, especially Mantumbi, Manzingi, and Mamove.
On October 20, 2020, jihadists from the Islamic State – Central Africa Province (ISCAP) raided the prison and neighboring military camp in Kangbayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, releasing 1,335 prisoners of the original 1,456.
On October 31, 2020, jihadists from the Islamic State's Central Africa Province (ISCAP) attacked the village of Lisasa, Beni Territory, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing over twenty-one civilians after brief clashes with UPLC Mai-Mai militiamen. The massacre came just several days after ISCAP slaughtered nineteen civilians in the village of Baeti.
On December 31, 2020, jihadist militants from the Islamic State affiliate Allied Democratic Forces attacked the village of Tingwe, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing at least thirty people. Several other civilians were kidnapped as well.
On January 4, 2021, jihadists from the Allied Democratic Forces attacked the village of Mwenda, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 23 people. The massacre came several days after an attack on Tingwe that killed over 30 people.
At 2am on March 15, 2021, jihadists from the Allied Democratic Forces attacked the town of Bulongo, Beni Territory, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 15 people.
On the night between May 30 and 31, 2021, jihadists from the Allied Democratic Forces attacked the towns of Boga and Tchabi, killing a total of fifty-seven civilians and injuring forty-seven others. The attacks were one of the deadliest massacres ever perpetrated by the ADF since its founding in the 1990s.
On July 22, 2021, jihadists from the Allied Democratic Forces ambushed a convoy of civilians returning from a market along a highway between Mayi-Moya and Chani-chani, Beni Territory, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Sixteen civilians were killed in the ambush, and nine more were injured.
On August 28, 2021, jihadists from the Allied Democratic Forces attacked the village of Kasanzi, Beni Territory, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nineteen civilians were killed in the massacre, and the attack was part of a larger spree by ISCAP against villages in Beni Territory.