KASINDI, Democratic Republic of Congo – As many as 16 people were killed and possibly 63 others were injured when a bomb exploded Jan. 15 during a baptism service at a Protestant church.
Allied Democratic Forces — a rebel group affiliated with Islamic State — is suspected in the bombing of the Church of Christ of the Congo in Kasindi, Democratic Republic of Congo, reports Morning Star News.
Paluka Kivugha, a church elder, told Morning Star that a bag two men placed inside the church building exploded. “The bomb killed children and their parents,” he said.
Kivugha and other church members said the explosion propelled bodies into the air and some survivors were missing limbs.
More than 120 armed groups operate in eastern DRC. ADF is among the most lethal of the groups. Though ADF originally was based in western Uganda, it has operated in the North Kivu Province of DRC since the 1990s, states Morning Star.
More than 85% of the DRC’s population call themselves Christians, while less than 3% are Muslim.
DRC is No. 37 on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List of places most difficult to be a Christian.
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