A suicide bomber struck shortly after noon in Beni, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least seven people and wounding 20 others, according to a new death toll released early Sunday.
An initial official report released Saturday said five people had been killed in a suicide bombing at a packed bar-restaurant in central Beni, North Kivu province.
Authorities immediately blamed the jihadists for the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
“So far, the interim report amounts to eight dead, including a captain of the 22nd brigade who was in the restaurant with his wife and children”, as well as the perpetrator, explained during a press conference Patrick Mougia, Minister of Communications and Spokesman of the Congolese Government.
“We also have 20 injured, including two young girls, two young boys, two ladies who suffered internal organ ruptures, two seriously injured ladies,” and two local officials, he said.
As for the perpetrator, “it is difficult to identify him,” said Lt. Gen. Konstantin Dima, the military man who has been assigned the role of caretaker governor of North Kivu.
“We could only pull out his head. It was pulverized by the explosion. “But we will do it because we have a database,” he told the press.
Lt. Gen. Dima called on the people “to be strong and vigilant”, assuring that “no part of the country will retreat in the face of the enemy, the ADF, which wants to establish a caliphate in the Great Lakes region.”
The provinces of North Kivu and Ituri have been under siege since May, an excellent measure that gives the military supremacy but has so far not allowed an end to the activities of the armed groups there.
Large-scale joint operations of the DRC and Ugandan armed forces have been conducting large-scale joint operations in the two provinces since November 30 against ADF positions.
The ADF, considered the most dangerous organization in the DRC, is also being blamed by Ugandan authorities for recent attacks on its territory, for which Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility. The IK presents the ADF as its representative in the “province” of its “caliphate” in Central Africa, calling it the Islamic State in Central Africa (IKKA).
On March 11, the United States added the ADF to its list of “terrorist organizations”, stressing that it was linked to the Islamic State.
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