At least thirty civilians were brutally killed by militants from the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP) in Luna-Samboko, a village on the border of Ituri and the neighboring province of North Kivu. The villagers were attacked by militants wielding machetes, guns, and other crude weapons and killed indiscriminately.
The weekend attack has left the residents afraid and running from their homes and going into hiding either in the forest or neighboring villages. Additionally, this attack comes a few days after two other attacks targeting the convoy of vehicles on the Komanda-Luna road section, in the same area.
The attacks are a worrying trend as the militants have been stepping up their attacks despite there being a significant military presence in the area attributed to UN peacekeepers and troops deployed during the state of emergency.
There has been public outcry with residents faulting the slow and ineffective nature of the CT operations in the region despite the military having recently received a boost of troops under the UN Quick Reaction Forces and US Special forces. The threat if ISCAP grows every day and it seems to be overpowering the security apparatus in the region with S.I analysts maintaining that the CT operations should treat ISCAP as a full-blown terror organization and upgrade their strategies as was done in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado Province.
