Armed men thought to be linked to an ISIL (ISIS)-affiliated group have raided villages in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), killing dozens of people, according to authorities and civil society groups, Al Jazeera reported on Friday.
Source: Al Jazeera
The attackers set fire to a health post during their overnight assault on Cantine, about 50 km (31 miles) west of Beni in North Kivu province, forcing patients with confirmed and suspected Ebola infections to flee. Fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed group set fire to several houses and killed civilians, Beni territorial administrator Colonel Charles Omeonga told the Reuters news agency on Friday.
"So far, we have counted 33 bodies and more than 50 houses set on fire, along with various other forms of material destruction," Omeonga told the AP news agency. The United Nations aid coordination office, OCHA, gave a closely matching account: at least 30 civilians were killed overnight on Thursday in Beni Territory, according to local sources it cited, with homes burnt and a health centre destroyed, killing several patients, UN News reported.
Source: UN News
Ebola patients among 180 who fled
Among those who fled were 180 patients from the local hospital, including suspected Ebola cases and one confirmed Ebola case, said Christian Kakule, medical director of the Kelekele Hospital Centre in Cantine. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has recorded more than 10,000 cases and 5,300 Ebola deaths across the DRC in the current outbreak — an epidemic that has made every attack on a health facility in the east doubly dangerous, because fleeing patients can carry the virus into new communities and treatment work stops where the fighting reaches.
The UN has called on all parties to protect civilians, respect international humanitarian law and ensure safe, unhindered access for humanitarian and health workers, warning that continued violence is costing lives and undermining efforts to contain the outbreak.
The Cantine raid lands in the middle of the Ebola epidemic Awaaz Punjab has been tracking in Congo, where deaths passed 5,300 this week even as response teams struggle to reach conflict zones. Read more: Congo Ebola deaths pass 5,372
A group with a long record of massacres
The ADF, which has roots in Uganda and pledged allegiance to ISIL in 2019, has long operated in the border region around Beni and routinely attacks civilians. In July 2025, it killed 66 people in eastern DRC in what the United Nations called a "bloodbath". No claim of responsibility for the Cantine attack had been reported by Friday evening, and the attribution to the ADF rests on Congolese authorities and local sources.
What is solid
- An overnight raid hit Cantine, about 50 km west of Beni, and civilians were killed and houses burned — Congolese authorities, civil society groups and UN OCHA all report the attack
- Beni territorial administrator Col. Charles Omeonga told AP 33 bodies had been counted and more than 50 houses set on fire; OCHA, citing local sources, said at least 30 civilians were killed
- A health post was set on fire and 180 patients fled the local hospital, including suspected Ebola cases and one confirmed case, the hospital centre's medical director said
- Africa CDC has recorded more than 10,000 Ebola cases and 5,300 deaths across the DRC in the current outbreak
What is only claimed
- Who carried out the raid — authorities attribute it to the ADF, an attribution Al Jazeera reports as 'thought to be linked'; no group had claimed responsibility by Friday evening
- The exact death toll — 33 bodies counted by the territorial administrator against OCHA's 'at least 30' from local sources; the count may rise
For Cantine, the count is not finished: officials were still tallying bodies and burned homes on Friday, and health workers now face the task of tracing 180 fled patients — among them people who may be carrying Ebola — in a region where the next attack is a matter of when, not if.