Terrorist attack on church-run clinic in eastern DRC leaves dozens dead

A late-night assault on a Catholic medical institution in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo has left around 20 civilians dead, prompting renewed outcry from missionaries who say global leaders are failing to answer escalating violence within the region.

The attack unfolded on the late evening of November 14 in Byambwe, a distant village in North Kivu’s Diocese of Butembo-Beni.

Armed men belonging to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) – a bunch that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State greater than a decade ago – stormed a medical centre operated by the Little Sisters of the Presentation.

Local sources report that patients were murdered of their beds before the assailants torched the constructing, including its maternity unit.

Homes surrounding the clinic were also set ablaze because the attackers swept through the village before disappearing into the adjoining forest.

Speaking to Vatican News, Father Giovanni Piumatti, an Italian fidei donum missionary who served within the region for greater than fifty years, described the assault as consistent with the ADF’s brutal signature.

“Fifteen people were killed within the clinic and one other five in the encircling area” he said. 

“They set fire to the whole facility and twenty-seven nearby homes. Before destroying all the things, they looted all of the medical supplies—I feel that was their fundamental objective. Panic spread in all places.” 

“The army pursued them, but despite its efforts, the terrorists escaped. They appear to be higher armed and equipped than the regular forces.”

Fr Piumatti added that the style of killing was “horrific”, noting that civilians were executed by beheading or throat-slitting.

“Here they killed moms as they were breastfeeding their babies” he stated.

“These massacres are beyond imagination, and so they occur almost every week. Many go unreported.”

Authorities imagine the identical militant network carried out a deadly assault on a Christian congregation in Komanda, Ituri Province, earlier this yr on July 27 – an incident Pope Leo XIV denounced at his July 30 General Audience.

“While I entrust the victims to God’s loving mercy, I pray for the wounded and for Christians all over the world who proceed to suffer violence and persecution,” the Pope said on the time, urging each regional leaders and international partners to act decisively to curb the violence.

The destroyed clinic had long been a lifeline for families in an area where formal healthcare is scarce. The Sisters of the Presentation provided maternal care, general medicine, and basic surgery for communities otherwise isolated from medical support.

According to Fr Piumatti’s account to Vatican News, ADF fighters — many originating from neighbouring Uganda — have terrorised this corner of North Kivu for years, killing civilians in fields and villages and abducting young people for forced recruitment.

He described attacks carried out “under the influence of medicine,” with child recruits compelled to proceed the violence after adults initiate it.

The latest raid has driven many residents from their homes; some haven’t returned.

With their facility reduced to ashes, the sisters have been tending to survivors within the streets.

Though the sisters themselves survived the attack, several newborns are feared to have been kidnapped.

The incident adds to a rising humanitarian crisis in a region already destabilised by armed groups and longstanding conflict.

Fr Piumatti sharply criticised what he called the “shameful silence” of worldwide powers.

He said: “Kivu is wealthy in mineral deposits — a land filled with precious resources that has all the time been contested. That is why these Islamist groups receive backing. The ADF are probably the most ferocious, but they usually are not the one ones supplied with weapons and money to maintain trade flowing. These conflicts serve industrial interests — and the world’s silence is profoundly troubling.”

Although the US recently brokered a deal between Congo and Rwanda, clashes with the M23 insurgency remain relentless across the east, whilst the national government confronts an escalating wave of Islamist-driven violence.