The death toll from attacks attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in Mambasa territory, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has risen to at least 35 civilians, local monitors have said. Fourteen people remain missing, while 12 houses and nine motorbikes were burned in the attacks, according to the monitoring team of the Action for Peace and the Defence of the Rights of Children and Women (APDEF). The figures were reported by Le Potentiel on 12 November, after more bodies were found on the evening of 11 November and during 12 November. The toll remains provisional, as some areas are still inaccessible.

The attacks took place across eight villages in the Babila-Babombi chiefdom, near the border with Uganda, on 10 and 11 November. Civil society groups first reported at least 22 people killed and at least 10 abducted, the Associated Press reported, with homes and motorbikes set on fire. The villages named by monitors include Kangwayi, Misele, Mingazi and Mambaka.

New attacks reported in Mambasa

Further attacks attributed to the ADF were reported on 12 November in the villages of Dondola and Makombise and at Camp Kisangani, according to survivors cited by APDEF. The toll from those latest attacks had not been established when the monitors gave their update. The ADF, a Ugandan-origin armed group affiliated with Islamic State, has repeatedly attacked farming communities in Ituri and neighbouring North Kivu. The violence is also complicating efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak in Ituri, where health workers are already operating in remote and insecure areas.