ADF raid kills 33 civilians and forces Ebola patients to flee
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Citizen Digital
An ADF raid killed 33 civilians in Cantine-Aloya, North Kivu, and caused six Ebola patients or suspected cases to flee, including one confirmed case. The attack also burned a health post, according to Congolese authorities and doctor Christian Kakule Vulembera cited by Reuters.
The ADF, an armed group affiliated with Islamic State, attacked the village of Cantine-Aloya at around 11pm on Thursday, about 50 km west of Beni, in North Kivu, according to officials cited by Reuters. Beni territorial administration chief Colonel Charles Omeonga said the attackers had burned several houses and killed civilians. Tchetche Aliamini, an official with a local civil society organisation, reported that 33 bodies had been recovered, most of them bearing gunshot wounds.
The attack also caused patients to flee a nearby hospital, including one person confirmed to have Ebola and five suspected cases, among them three high-risk contacts, according to chief doctor Christian Kakule Vulembera cited by Reuters. The Cantine-Aloya health post was burned during the assault. North Kivu currently accounts for half of the new infections recorded in the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has more than 10,000 cases and 5,000 deaths nationwide, according to authorities.
The attack comes after the deaths of at least 35 civilians in Beni territory, reported on 6 November, and the flight of nine patients and contacts after the attack in Cantine, reported on 7 November.
