An “
improvised explosive device
” targeted a Pentecostal church on Sunday in Kasindi, in North Kivu, a region of the Democratic Republic of Congo bordering Uganda, announced the army which castigated a “
purely terrorist act
”.
"
The security services have already taken control of the place and the wounded have been evacuated to health facilities
" from the region plagued by deadly violence from various armed groups for years, added the army spokesman. Antony Mualushayi in a statement.
The number of victims was not immediately known.
The work of the Islamic State?
More than 120 armed groups are present in the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, many of which are the legacy of regional wars that erupted at the turn of the century.
Considered the deadliest, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which the Islamic State group presents as its branch in Central Africa, are active in the North Kivu region where the attack took place.
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They are accused of having massacred thousands of civilians in the DRC and committed attacks in Uganda.
The United States has placed them in 2021 on its list of terrorist organizations.
Other groups are also active and seek to control territories for ethnic reasons and/or to extract the rich resources from the soil, often encouraged and financed by neighboring countries.
In North Kivu, Rwanda is accused by Kinshasa and Western countries of supporting the Tutsi rebellion of the M23, which has seized a large portion of territory north of Goma in recent months.