The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed group killed more than 40 people, including several children, with guns and machetes during a nighttime church gathering on July 26-27, 2025, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said today. Several other children were abducted and remain missing.
The Ugandan-led ADF pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2019, but current ties between the two armed groups are unclear. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in Komanda, Ituri province, on its Telegram channel, saying 45 people were killed. The massacre heightens concerns about the ability of Congo's national army, stationed nearby, and the United Nations peacekeeping force to protect civilians.
"The Allied Democratic Forces' killings of civilians, including worshipers in church, demonstrated incomprehensible brutality," said Clémentine de Montjoye, senior Great Lakes researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The massacre at Komanda and other mass killings this year highlight the insecurity in eastern Congo and the need for the Congolese government to urgently step up efforts to protect civilians and hold those responsible to account."
Komanda residents and witnesses told Human Rights Watch that worshipers had gathered for celebrations at the Catholic church on July 26, and many spent the night ahead of Sunday mass. ADF fighters entered the church compound around 1 a.m. on July 27 and began their attack on a building where people were sleeping, witnesses said. Survivors and a witness said fighters attacked people with blunt instrument blows to the head, machetes, and gunfire. According to the parish, at least 33 people died immediately or later from their injuries.
"They told us to sit down, and then started hitting people [with blunt instruments] on the back of the neck. They killed two people I didn't know, and that's when I decided to flee with four others," a survivor told Human Rights Watch. "We managed to run away - they shot at us but didn't hit us."
The ADF fighters killed at least five other people in the town and set fire to houses and kiosks, according to a local civil society leader, media reports. Videos on social media that Human Rights Watch geolocated show burned buildings on the town's main road near the church.
Human Rights Watch received the names of 39 people killed, 9 injured, and 9 children between ages 7 and 14 abducted. According to a list shared by the parish on August 2, more than 30 people were abducted, and 7 injured during the attack on the building next to the church. On July 27, the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) reported at least 43 deaths, including 9 children, as well as people killed in surrounding areas. According to two sources, some of those kidnapped have since escaped.
The Congolese army was deployed about 3 kilometers south of the church, while MONUSCO was about a kilometer south. Human Rights Watch received information that network issues at the time of the attack impeded efforts to sound the alarm.
"During all this time, neither the FARDC [Congolese army] nor MONUSCO intervened," said a civil society leader. "The police didn't come either. They all came eventually, but it was too late. They just saw the damage done."
The government imposed martial law in North Kivu and Ituri in April 2021 to end insecurity in the two provinces. However, martial law failed to curb abuses against civilians and enabled the military and police to curtail freedom of expression, suppress peaceful demonstrations with lethal force, and arbitrarily detain and prosecute activists, journalists, and political opposition members.
Congo's influential conference of Catholic bishops stated on July 29 that "[o]ur indignation is all the greater because this latest massacre occurred in one of the provinces that has been under [martial law] for several years, supported by the joint efforts of the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and those of Uganda (UPDF), along with the decades-long presence of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission (MONUSCO)."
Congo's government condemned the killings as "horrific," and military officials described it as a "large-scale massacre" in response to recent military operations against the ADF. MONUSCO condemned the killings and warned that the attacks would exacerbate "an already extremely concerning humanitarian situation in the province."
In response to written questions from Human Rights Watch, a public information officer of the rapid deployable battalion at MONUSCO's Komanda base stated that "The ADF is known to employ silent killer tactics, striking swiftly, organized and unpredictable. In this case, the attack occurred in the early hours of the morning, targeting a religious gathering attended by a large number of civilians" and that MONUSCO had taken steps to "intensify protection efforts in the area."
A Congolese military source told Human Rights Watch that a military justice investigation had been opened and further troops deployed to the area to ensure the protection of civilians. The Congolese government and MONUSCO should urgently complete the investigation into the July attack and the response of the armed forces and MONUSCO and make its findings public.
Congolese authorities, with MONUSCO's assistance, should adopt measures to re-establish trust with civilians, including by reinforcing early warning networks and consulting with communities and civic groups about protection needs. The authorities should take all necessary steps to protect civilians, including by promptly responding to reports of armed group activity and movements. Additionally, efforts should be made to hold perpetrators of these killings, which could amount to war crimes, to account, Human Rights Watch said.
In recent years, the ADF armed group has been implicated in scores of killings and abductions in North Kivu province's Beni and Lubero territories and increasingly in the neighboring Irumu territory of Ituri province. ADF attacks earlier in July killed 82 civilians in Ituri and North Kivu, according to the UN. The UN Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo reported that, "January 2025 marked the second time in which ADF-attributed fatalities exceeded 200 within a single month - predominantly in the Beni region and Lubero territory." In 2024, the ADF was the armed group responsible for the highest number of killings in Congo, mainly civilians.
In early 2025, the Ugandan armed forces expanded a joint military campaign, known as "Operation Shujaa," that began in late 2021. The UN reported, though, that the operation "did not curb ADF violence against civilians in North Kivu and Ituri Provinces." Some security experts believe that the joint deployment has pushed the ADF from some strongholds near the Ugandan border further into Ituri and North Kivu provinces.
The African Union and UN Security Council should press for a credible strategy to address the deepening security crisis and grave rights abuses in all parts of eastern Congo, Human Rights Watch said.
"President Félix Tshisekedi, with international support, should focus on protecting civilians and providing tighter military oversight in eastern Congo to spare long-suffering communities from further atrocities," de Montjoye said. "The government has a duty to protect civilians and ensure justice for victims of these repeated atrocities."
