ADF raid kills at least 33 in a North Kivu village, civil society says

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Islamic State-linked militants from the Allied Democratic Forces raided Cantine-Aloyath in North Kivu province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, around 11 p.m. local time on Thursday, Nov 5, Reuters reports. AP names the village Cantine.

A total of 33 bodies were recovered after the attack, most with gunshot wounds and others burned or hacked with machetes, local civil society leader Tchetche Aliamini told Reuters. Justin Paluku, another civil society leader, told AP he had counted 33 bodies and more than 50 houses set on fire.

Beni territorial administrator Colonel Charles Omeonga told Reuters the attackers set fire to several houses and killed civilians. Officials said a health post was also set on fire. Omeonga said a final death toll could not yet be established because heavy rain hampered army operations.

Patients from a nearby hospital fled, including one confirmed Ebola patient and five suspected cases, among them three high-risk contacts, the head doctor there, Christian Kakule Vulembera, told Reuters.

Christian Kakule, medical director of the Kelekele Hospital Center in Cantine, told AP that 180 people fled the local hospital, including suspected Ebola cases and one confirmed case, and that high-risk contacts and others under monitoring also fled. Gunfire and burning homes came as close as 50 meters from the hospital, he said. The 180 figure is the hospital flight, not a count of Ebola patients.

The village is about 50 km west of Beni, officials told Reuters. North Kivu is a hotspot in Congo's Ebola outbreak, which has recorded more than 10,000 cases and 5,000 deaths nationwide, Reuters reports.