Key facts
- Colonel Charles Omeonga said a death toll could not yet be established because heavy rain hampered army operations and investigations.
- Christian Kakule Vulembera said one confirmed Ebola patient and five suspected cases fled a nearby hospital.
- North Kivu accounts for half of all new infections in Congo's Ebola outbreak, with more than 10,000 cases and 5,000 deaths recorded nationally.
- The Allied Democratic Forces, recognised by Islamic State as an affiliate, carried out the raid, Omeonga said.
Militants raided the village of Cantine-Aloyath in North Kivu province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, around 11 p.m. local time on Thursday, killing at least 33 civilians and forcing Ebola patients to flee, authorities said on November 6, 2026. The village lies about 50 km west of Beni.
Beni territorial administrator Colonel Charles Omeonga told Reuters that militants from the Allied Democratic Forces, a group recognised by Islamic State as an affiliate, set fire to several houses and killed civilians. He said a death toll could not yet be established because heavy rain hampered army operations and investigations.
Tchetche Aliamini, a local civil society leader, said 33 bodies were recovered after the attack, most bearing gunshot wounds, while others had been burned or hacked with machetes. Officials said the attackers set fire to a health post during the assault.
Christian Kakule Vulembera, the head doctor at a nearby hospital, told Reuters that patients fled, including one confirmed Ebola patient and five suspected cases, among them three high-risk contacts. North Kivu accounts for half of all new infections in Congo's Ebola outbreak, and authorities have recorded more than 10,000 cases and 5,000 deaths across the country.