Islamic State-linked raid near Beni kills dozens and forces Ebola patients to flee
Fighters of the Allied Democratic Forces burned a health centre treating Ebola patients in North Kivu, halting response work in an area already struggling to contain the outbreak.
At least 48 people have been killed in an attack by militants loyal to the Islamic State on a village in eastern DR Congo, officials said, in an area that has become a hot spot of the country's Ebola outbreak.
The assault on Cantine-Aloya, a village about 45 kilometres west of the city of Beni in North Kivu province, began late on Thursday 5 November. Fighters of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) set fire to a health centre treating Ebola patients and burned many homes, according to The New York Times.
A confirmed Ebola patient and five suspected cases fled the facility during the raid, a local doctor told Reuters. Thousands of residents abandoned their homes, and United Nations officials fear the displacement could accelerate the spread of the virus. Response work in the area was suspended the following day.
Cantine-Aloya had recorded 126 Ebola infections, 83 of which were under treatment at the time. The outbreak, first detected in May, has become the second-largest on record and now spans eight provinces in eastern DR Congo. Infections have fallen in some areas but continue to rise in places controlled or threatened by armed groups.
The ADF, recognised by the Islamic State as an affiliate in 2019, is notorious for beheadings, rape and the abduction of children. The United States designated it a foreign terrorist organisation in 2021.
