DR Congo death toll nears 50 after second attack

Author: Kresta in the Afternoon Published on: May 13, 2016 Published in: Christian Persecution

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At least a further nine people have been killed in another attack by suspected Islamist militants in the eastern extremes of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, bringing the total killed in the past week to nearly 50.

World Watch Monitor reported last week that between 20 and 40 villagers had been killed in an attack late in the evening on 3 May in a village in North Kivu province.

Another attack late on 6 May in the province of Ituri, slightly further north, saw between nine and 15 killed, including the worship leader and deaconess of a local church. They were part of the mission organisation Eglise du Rocher, or Church on the Rock, which also lost a pastor and his wife to an attack in October 2014 in Cadeau. That church, and the school attached to it, have yet to reopen. The church has also since abandoned its mission amongst Mbuti Pygmies.

“We are heartbroken, questioning our faith, half-terrified, but determined, and carrying on,” said Mike Anticoli, the founder of Eglise du Rocher. “We are a small but growing church organisation, founded in 2005, and have 13 churches and three ministry training schools in the danger zone of North Kivu. We may be targeted due to the fact that we train local leaders and aspiring missionaries from several churches and denominations.”