The Congolese Army has released 19 hostages, including six children, held by Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militias in the troubled Ituri province in the northeastern part of the country over the past week.
The hostages were freed from this extremely violent militia after four days of operations in three villages of the Irumu territory, the local administration informed the Congolese news agency ACP on Sunday.
«These releases occurred on December 20, 23, 29 and 30 in the villages of Ndalya, Katabeyi and Bwanasura, on the Komanda-Luna axis», according to the agency’s sources.
Among those released is a two-year-old girl belonging to a Rwandan-Somali ADF couple. Among those released there are also seven women and six men, some of whom have spent up to seven months in captivity.
According to a recent report by UN experts, ADF attacks have killed at least 370 civilians since April 2022. The militias have also abducted some 374 people since then.
The attacks against civilians were concentrated around the municipalities of Bahema-Boga and Banyali-Tchabi in Ituri, as well as in the southeast of Beni territory.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
