from JEAN KASSONGO in Kinshasa, DRC
DRC Bureau
KINSHASA, (CAJ News) – AUTHORITIES must track down and prosecute perpetrators that killed 14 civilians and injured 63 others when bombing a church in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Sunday.
This is the latest such order by the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, António Guterres, as the situation escalates in the troubled country.
Congolese authorities report that the civilians were killed and others injured when an explosive device detonated during the Sunday church service in Kasindi, North Kivu province.
“The Secretary-General expresses his deepest condolences to the bereaved families, the people and the government of the DRC, and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary-General.
The UN chief stresses the need for to establish the responsibilities for the perpetrators of this attack and that the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) supports the Congolese authorities in the conduct of the investigation into the circumstances of the incident.
An extremist group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
It has said its militants had placed a bomb in this Pentecostal church before operating it during the religious service.
“Congolese forces must know that their continued attacks on the Mujahideen will only bring them failures and losses,” the armed group is quoted as saying.
The armed group is reportedly the Alliance of Democratic Forces (ADF).
It has already launched several offensives in Kasindi, near the border with Uganda.
According to a UN report presented in December, the groups has killed 370 civilians in eastern DRC since April.
– CAJ News