On the night of September 8, 2025, the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo was once again plunged into horror as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group affiliated with the Islamic State, unleashed a brutal attack on villagers attending a funeral in Ntoyo, Lubero territory, North Kivu province. The massacre left at least 60 people dead, most of them hacked with machetes, and has sent shockwaves through a region already battered by years of conflict and instability.
The details of the attack are harrowing. According to Colonel Alain Kiwewa, the local administrator of Lubero territory, "The ADF attack caused around 60 deaths, but the final toll will be given later this evening because the territory has just deployed services to the area to count the number of beheaded people." As of September 9, 2025, authorities were still working to identify victims and account for those missing, suggesting the death toll could rise. Macaire Sivikunula, another local administrator, confirmed a provisional death count of 50 and described the scene: "The victims were caught off guard at a mourning ceremony in the village of Ntoyo at around 9 p.m., and most of them were killed with machetes. The search is continuing."
Survivors’ testimonies paint a chilling picture of the night’s events. One woman, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, told the Associated Press, "There were about 10 of them. I saw machetes. They told people to gather in one place and started cutting them. I listened to people screaming and I fainted." Such accounts have been echoed by local civil society leaders and residents, who described utter carnage, with some victims shot dead and vehicles set ablaze. According to a report by a local broadcaster, Mishapi Voice Radio, some people were even burned alive in their homes.
By the time Congolese soldiers arrived at the scene on Tuesday morning, the damage had already been done. Lieutenant Marc Elongo, a spokesperson for the Congolese army, said, "ADF militants had already committed the massacre by the time soldiers intervened." The Islamic State’s Central African Province, to which the ADF is affiliated, claimed responsibility for the attack and even alleged that over 100 people had been killed, though official counts remain lower as authorities continue their investigation.
This latest atrocity comes amid a string of deadly attacks by the ADF in the mineral-rich Kivu region. In July, the group attacked a Catholic church in Komanda, Ituri province, killing more than 30 worshippers during a night vigil. Later that month, they killed at least 40 people and kidnapped up to 14 more in another brutal assault. Between August 1 and 16, the United Nations peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO) in the DRC reported that the ADF slaughtered at least 52 civilians in Beni and Lubero territories, often accompanied by kidnappings, looting, and the burning of homes and vehicles.
The ADF’s origins trace back to Uganda in the 1990s, where it emerged during disputes within the Muslim community. Initially known as the Ugandan Muslim Freedom Fighters, the group sought to overthrow the Ugandan government but was eventually pushed into the DRC’s rural areas near the border. After the arrest of its founder, Jamil Mukulu, in 2015, Musa Seka Baluku took the helm, pledging allegiance to the Islamic State in 2017. By 2019, the group was officially recognized as part of ISIL, forming the Central Africa Province alongside an affiliate in Mozambique. The United States designated the ADF as a terrorist organization in 2021.
UN experts estimate the ADF’s strength at around 1,000 to 1,500 fighters, including foreign mercenaries. The group is notorious for its use of light arms, machetes, mortars, and improvised explosive devices. According to Stig Jarle Hansen, an expert on al-Qaeda and ISIL in Africa, "They aren’t strong enough to hold territory, but they are strong enough to survive." Hansen explained to Al Jazeera that the ADF remains mobile, entering villages to carry out attacks, recruit forcibly, and assert dominance. "They take children after these mass casualty attacks, through forced recruitment," he said.
The attack in Ntoyo is emblematic of a broader security crisis in eastern Congo. The region is home to dozens of armed groups, including the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, who seized the strategic city of Goma earlier in 2025. The Congolese government, stretched thin by fighting on multiple fronts, has had to divert troops from border villages to combat the M23, inadvertently creating a security vacuum that groups like the ADF have exploited. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk observed at a Human Rights Council session in Geneva, "The ADF had taken advantage of the security vacuum."
Despite joint military operations by the Congolese and Ugandan armies, including Uganda’s deployment of troops to North Kivu and Ituri provinces as part of Operation Shujaa, the ADF continues to mount devastating attacks. Just last week, two Ugandan soldiers were killed in clashes with the group. The persistence of such violence underscores the immense challenges facing both national governments and the international community in stabilizing the region.
Human rights abuses are not limited to the ADF. A recent United Nations report accused both the Rwanda-backed M23 and the Congolese army of serious violations, including killings, gang rape, and torture. The report stated, "DRC and Rwanda bear responsibility for their support to armed groups with known track records of serious abuses, and for failing to meet their obligations to take all measures to ensure respect for international humanitarian law and to protect civilians from serious harm." Even a US-brokered peace deal signed by DRC and Rwanda in June 2025 has failed to stem the tide of massacres.
The impact on civilians has been catastrophic. Thousands have been killed in eastern Congo this year alone, and tens of thousands more have been forced to flee their homes. The region’s mineral wealth, long a source of conflict, continues to attract armed groups vying for control, leaving ordinary people caught in the crossfire and struggling to survive in an ever-worsening humanitarian crisis.
As authorities in Ntoyo and across North Kivu province count their dead and search for the missing, the world is once again confronted with the grim reality of eastern Congo’s unending cycle of violence. The latest massacre is a stark reminder of the urgent need for sustained international attention, robust peacekeeping, and a renewed commitment to protecting civilians in one of Africa’s most troubled regions.