Makugwe massacre | |
Location: | Makugwe, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo |
Date: | January 22, 2023 |
Partof: | Kivu conflict |
Fatalities: | 17-24 killed (per Congolese army) 23 killed and 3 missing (per witnesses) |
Perpetrator: | Islamic State |
On 22 January 2023 in Makugwe in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Islamists killed about 20 people.[1]
The Allied Democratic Forces are a Ugandan Islamist group who began an insurgency in 1996. It spread to the DRC and intensified during the 2010s. Their attacks in North Kivu include a massacre in Beni in 2016. During the late 2010s, the group forged close links to the Islamic State. They bombed a church in Kasindi, North Kivu on 15 January 2023.
On the evening of 22 January 2023, the Allied Democratic Forces killed between 17 and 24 people in Makugwe, a village near Beni, North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[1] The massacre occurred at a bar; the insurgents also looted and set fire to several homes and shops, and kidnapped several people.[1] Provincial deputy Saidi Balikwisha, who was in Makugwe during the attack, claimed the death toll to be 23 and stated at least 3 others were reported missing.[2] [3] On 23 January, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.