This archive report was first published on 31 August 2021.
Eleven children, aged nine to 17, including five girls, have been kidnapped by presumed Islamist rebels in northeastern DR Congo.
The latest incident occurred on Sunday evening in a village in Ituri province, where the rebels, thought to be members of the Islamic State-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), abducted the group.
According to Dieudonne Malangayi, acting chairman of the chiefdom of Walese Vonkutu, the rebels 'erupted into the Bundingili area where the village is located, and kidnapped all the civilians who were there, men, women and children.'
More than three kilometres away in the bush, the militants 'freed the men, women and some young children,' but kept the 11 other children.
Malangayi stated, 'We don't know what happened' to the abducted children, who are believed to be undergoing training to become fighters.
The ADF, historically a Ugandan Islamist group, have been accused of killing thousands of civilians in Ituri and neighbouring North Kivu province.
Since May, the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri have been under a state of siege, replacing civilian authorities with army and police officers to fight armed groups.
On August 18, a contingent of US special operations forces arrived in the area to help the Congolese army in their fight against the ADF.
Separately, in eastern DR Congo, one person was killed and seven were injured late Monday by 'armed bandits' in Karisimbi, a district in North Kivu province.
