49 Christians killed in the DRC church by allied Islamic militants

The Pope, the United Nations and a leading Christian group have all condemned a new major attack against Christians in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who, according to the UN, left at least 49 dead.

In the last attack in a long series of tragic mass murders by Islamist terrorists in Nigeria and the DRC, the UN declared that the rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a rebellious group sanctioned allied with the Islamic State with roots in Uganda, burst into a church in the city of Komanda in the East. The congregation was attacked at 1 a.m. last Sunday morning, when they were on a night vigil, apparently praying for peace.

The rebels also burned the houses nearby. Nine children are among the dead. Several villagers have been kidnapped.

Pope, Department of State to condemn the last massacre of Christians by Islamist activists in Nigeria

The villagers buried their dead following the murder of 49 Christians in the Democratic Republic of Congo by jihadists linked to the Islamic State. (Open doors)

“May the blood of these martyrs become a seed of peace, reconciliation, fraternity and love for the Congolese people,” said Pope Leo XIV of Rome. A vatican cardinal added that the pope “had learned with dismay and deep sadness of the attack”.

The United Nations stabilization mission in the DRC, Monusco, expressed “deep outrage in the face of these acts of heinous violence, which constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights offenses”.

“The murders are strategic,” said Illia Djadi, a principal sub -Saharan researcher for the Christian doors of Christian charity, who support and express themselves for Christians persecuted for their faith, said. He added: “The ADF has a very clear objective: they want to transform a large part of the DRC into Islamic Caliphate, such as the horrible prompted in Iraq and Syria in 2014 by the Islamic State.”

Contacted by Fox News Digital Tuesday, Djadi said: “The presence of Islamic State groups in the region means that sub -Saharan Africa has become the new epicenter of jihadism.” Muslims are in the minority here; It is said that Christians represent between 80 and 95% of the population.

The village of Bishop attacked, 20 killed after a recent testimony of the Congress on Christian persecution

The villagers head towards the burial place of 49 Christians killed by jihadists in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Open doors)

70 Christians were reported again, again in a church on the DRC, in February. The killings of Christians are worse in Nigeria, Pope Leo XIV saying to crowds in the Vatican that “some 200 people were murdered, with extraordinary cruelty” on June 13 in Yelewata, in the state of Nigeria Benue.

According to Open Doors International’s 2025 World Watch List (WWL), out of the 4,476 Christians killed worldwide in the last period of reporting of WWL, 3,100 of those who died (69%) were in Nigeria.

Djadi told Fox News Digital that despite the peace agreement negotiated by President Trump in the DRC, the eastern Christians of the country are still in danger. “There has been a lot of attention to the DRC recently, with Donald Trump who heads a peace initiative between the DRC and Rwanda, whose rebel fighters the M23 took a large part of territories in the east of the DRC.”

The Christian faithful hold signs as they walk in the streets of Abuja during a prayer and a penance for peace and security in Nigeria in Abuja on March 1, 2020. (Kola Sulaimon / AFP via Getty Images)

“However,” added Djadi, “while government forces are trying to contain M23 in urban regions, rural areas are left defenseless. It has left a security vacuum, which means that the ADF is free to massacre hundreds of innocent civilians with impunity, with Christians in particular in danger.

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“It is the main responsibility of the Congolese government to protect the whole nation, regardless of their religious faith or their ethnic origin. What would happen if the ADF continues its murder without opposition is too horrible to contemplate.”