Harare — At least 20 people were killed in an armed raid in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) late on Sunday, November 12, Al Jazeera reports.
More residents fled but may have perished while attempting to cross the Lamia River into Uganda.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed organization headquartered in the eastern DRC, that has sworn allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack in the Watalinga chiefdom of Beni area, according to a DRC army spokesperson.
The ADF, which was founded in Uganda in the 1990s before crossing the border, is held accountable for thousands of deaths in both countries over a ten-year period.
The DR Congo army reported that it killed at least six of the assailants on November 12, but it did not provide specifics on the operation. It also said that 11 civilians were killed but this could not yet be verified.