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At least 70 bodies were found last week in a church in an abandoned village in the eastern part of Congo. The victims, who were presumably being held hostage for days, were tied up and beheaded, reported The Mirror.
Tristan Azbej, the State Secretary for persecuted Christians reacted in a post on X. He wrote that he was horrified to learn about the incident, and emphasized that Hungary stands in solidarity with the persecuted Christians. He pointed out that the world needs to recognize and act against Christian persecution.
Horrified to learn about the 70 Christian martyrs beheaded by terrorists in a church in Kasanga, DRC. Hungary stands in solidarity with the persecuted Christians BUT we need more ⏩️⏩️ the world needs to recognize and act against Christian persecution.❗️
— Tristan Azbej ن (@tristan_azbej) February 19, 2025
It was on February 14 that the victims were found in a Protestant church near Kasanga. The town is now almost empty, after people fled because of the ongoing fights and attacks. “70 bodies were discovered in the church. They were tied up near the locality of Mayba,” said Vianney Vitswamba, coordinator of the local community protection committee. The Mirror reported that the victims were believed to be from village, being missing since February 12.
The victims were reportedly held hostage by the Allied Democratic Forces rebels. The ADF is an Islamist rebel group in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said to be affiliated with ISIS.
The ADF was originally based in western Uganda but has expanded into the neighboring DRC. Since the late 1990s, the ADF has operated in the DRC’s North Kivu province near the border with Uganda.
There is a continuation of the escalating threat posed by ADF militants in the country’s north east region, says Open Doors. They highlighted that in 2014, ADF intensified attacks in Beni territory in North Kivu, and since then, atrocities spread to Irumu and Mambasa in Ituri province, and now Lubero. Open Doors pointed out that last month, the militant group has reportedly killed more than 200 people in Baswagha.
The killings in Kasanga is just one of the many atrocities in the Democratic Republic in Congo lately, and threat is posed not only by the ADF rebels. At the end of January, the Rwandan-backed March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group seized one of Congo’s biggest cities, Goma. In response, riots broke out in the capital, Kinshasa, during which embassies were attacked.
Since then, the conflict has escalated further, with M23 taking over control in Bukavu, the second major city in the country’s eastern part. The fighting between the rebel M23 group and the Congolese army has already left thousands dead, reported Al Jazeera.
Via The Mirror, Featured photo via Facebook/Azbej Tristan