At last 58 people were killed by Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP) in Ituri Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo last week in two deadly attacks. The fifty-eight were killed by the Jihadist in Ituri which neighbors the group’s headquarter; Beni territory in North Kivu province.
According to military sources in the region said that twenty-three people were killed in Irumu territory in southern Ituri on Tuesday, followed by 35 there on Thursday of last week. As has become the group’s MO, at least 17 people have since been reported missing and is an indicator that the group is still kidnapping people. The attacks are the first and most recent in Ituri after a lull in attacks outside of Beni in a few weeks. The attacks occurred in the heavily forested region of Tchabi in Ituri which could be a confirmation of the group’s extensive presence in the region and hideouts in the forest as is the case in Beni territory.
Irumu territory has in the recent months become a theatre for ADF operations and intelligence has since indicated that the group has most definitely expanded from Beni and is moving into Ituri province and is taking advantage of the chaos caused by other armed rebel groups in the province to expand and extend its territory both by recruiting and kidnapping residents to join their ranks.
Previously, the group appeared to only operate in North Kivu, and as such recent intelligence shows a growth in capacity and numbers that allow the group to expand and create camps and presence across the bigger region. In the past fortnight, the group has stepped up its attacks especially in the vicinity of Oicha, the capital of Beni and its environs that has led to the deaths of innocent civilians, troops as well as military wives. The past week, ISCAP has conducted uncoordinated attacks in the villages along a road that has long served as a blind spot that has been exploited to attack the civilian and military population in Beni and therefore the expansion into Ituri is an elaborate strategy to consolidate territory and eventually create an Islamic caliphate as is the main agenda of ISIS.
