At least 10 ISCAP terrorists were killed in clashes between the terrorists and Congolese soldiers in Beni. The militants ambushed a military convoy on the Kamango- Mbau road that has been a terrorist’s hotbed, especially in the past few weeks.
The 10 were killed by the soldiers in an area that has seen increased military presence in the past week following increased attack along the road that killed over eighty people in the past two weeks. Additionally, the latest violence saw six Congolese soldiers wounded in clashes with the militants following the ambush near the town of Mbau. ISCAP militants have since claimed the attack saying that its ‘soldiers’ had killed 9 Congolese soldiers.
Shortly after the clashes with the military, members of the same ADF group killed five civilians near Mbau, including three women, and took a few hostages. The kidnappings are becoming a common occurrence in the attacks by ADF in Beni especially in the past weeks. The hostages are either taken into the forest or killed and dumped in the fields.
The past week attacks only reiterate that the threat posed by ISCAP in DRC is much greater than previously anticipated and that the relentless nature of the group makes them very dangerous and a swift CT strategy ought to be mounted to ensure that the previous military gains against them and the relationship between troops and civilians aren’t reversed.
