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KINSHASA, CONGO<\/strong> – Suspected Islamic militants have killed at least 30 people in a series of attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province. According to a Congolese military official, the attacks took place in Bapere village over several days. The Allied Democratic Force (ADF), a rebel group linked to the Islamic State, is suspected of carrying out the brutal assaults. A civil society leader in the area stated that many of the victims were killed with knives and that several houses were set ablaze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The group’s tactics evolved, and it became known for indiscriminate violence against civilians, including massacres, kidnappings, and the use of child soldiers. This allegiance provided the ADF with a new source of inspiration and propaganda, and it began to claim responsibility for its attacks on ISIS-affiliated media channels. KINSHASA, CONGO – Suspected Islamic militants have killed at least 30 people in a series of attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province. According to a Congolese military official, the attacks took place in Bapere village over several days. The Allied Democratic Force (ADF), a rebel group linked to the Islamic State,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international"],"yoast_head":"\n
These attacks are the latest in a string of deadly raids by the ADF, a group with a long and complex history of violence in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
History of the Allied Democratic Force (ADF)<\/strong>
The ADF was founded in 1995 as a Ugandan rebel group with the goal of overthrowing the government of President Yoweri Museveni and establishing an Islamic state. Led by Jamil Mukulu, the group was a merger of several rebel factions and extremist members of the Tablighi Jamaat movement. They established bases in the mountainous border areas between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and began recruiting and training fighters.
In the late 1990s, the ADF launched its first significant attacks in Uganda, but as a result of military pressure, it increasingly shifted its operations to the eastern DRC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shift to a Broader Jihadi Ideology
While initially focused on a political agenda in Uganda, the ADF’s ideology hardened over time. After the arrest of Jamil Mukulu in 2015, a new leader, Musa Baluku, took control and began to align the group with a more global jihadi movement. In 2017, the ADF pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS), which recognized it as its Central Africa Province (ISIS-DRC). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The link to ISIS has also expanded the group’s recruitment network, attracting foreign fighters from neighboring countries like Burundi, Tanzania, and Kenya. The ADF’s attacks have become more frequent and more brutal in recent years, despite ongoing joint military operations by the Congolese and Ugandan armies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest attacks in Bapere are a grim reminder of the ADF’s continued ability to terrorize the local population and destabilize an already volatile region. The group’s history shows a clear trajectory from a localized insurgency to a brutal, internationally recognized terrorist group, posing a significant and ongoing threat to peace and security in the eastern DRC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"