10 killed, several wounded in bomb attack at church in DR Congo

CONGO, Jan. 16 (YPA) – At least 10 people were killed and 39 wounded Sunday in a bomb blast at a church in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, an attack authorities attributed to an Islamic State-affiliated armed group.

According to Agence France-Presse, military spokesman Antony Mualushayi said the “terrorist act” happened in a Pentecostal church in North Kivu province’s Kasindi, a town on the border with Uganda.

The explosion killed at least 10 people and wounded 39, Mualushayi said, revising up an initial death toll of five. Both tolls were provisional, he said.

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)are active in northern North Kivu and southern Ituri and includes ethnic Ugandan groups.

More than 120 armed groups are active in the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, many of them legacies of the region’s early century wars.

On Sunday evening, the takfiri group ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said killed “about 20 people.

E.M