Locals at a village in the embattled North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo are appealing for prayers after approximately 70 bodies were found inside a church building in the village. Source: CNA.
A local source contacted by Aid to the Church in Need International said the killings took place between February 12 and 15 in Maiba, a village in the eastern region of the DRC.
The source said that on February 12, rebels from an Islamist terrorist group, originally from Uganda, entered the village and took approximately 100 people hostage.
The source said on February 15, about 70 bodies were discovered inside a Protestant church.
“Many of them had been bound and some beheaded. Among the victims were women, children, and the elderly,” said the source.
“It is likely that these victims were unable to resist or endure the forced march, because when the rebels take hostages, they make them travel with them, either as reinforcements for their group or as forced labour for the war effort.”
According to the source, abductors force people to carry loot after raiding villages.
“If you get tired on the way, you’re done. I believe that is what happened to these 70 people.”
The Maiba massacre, the source said, was carried out by the armed Islamist group Allied Democratic Forces, which operates in Uganda and the DRC and has terrorised the local population for over a decade.
The massacre came at a delicate time for the region, given the worsening humanitarian situation in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, which have seen heavy terrorisation by another armed group, the March 23 Movement (M23) rebels.
The source concluded with a call for prayers, imploring: “Let us pray. Prayer is what keeps our hope alive amidst this situation we are living through.”
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Locals call for prayer as 70 bodies found in Democratic Republic of Congo church after attack (CNA)
