ADF kill as many as 31 during prayer vigil in Komanda, eastern DRC on Sunday

On Sunday morning, 27 July 2025, fighters belonging to the ISIS-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked Komanda and killed as many as 31 worshippers attending an overnight prayer vigil in the Catholic Church. About ten more people were killed in the same village along in the eastern DRC town. 

Komanda Reports

According to news reports the attack happened around 1 a.m. Dieudonne Duranthabo, a civil society coordinator in Komanda, told AP yesterday: “More than 21 people were shot dead inside and outside [the church] and we have recorded at least three charred bodies and several houses burned. But the search is continuing.”

“The bodies of the victims are still at the scene of the tragedy, and volunteers are preparing how to bury them in a mass grave that we are preparing in a compound of the Catholic church.”

A local priest, Father Aime Lokana Dhego, told the AFP (via BBC) that 31 believers were killed: “We have at least 31 dead members of the Eucharistic Crusade movement, with six seriously injured. Some young people were kidnapped, we have no news of them.”

UN sponsored, Radio Okapi, reports that several other bodies were discovered in burned-out houses and businesses not far from the church. It’s unclear whether they were Christians or not. Shops and businesses close to the church were looted and set on fire. 

Reuters reported that the Islamic State militant group on Monday claimed responsibility for the attack.

Security forces received the news at around 2 a.m., but when they arrived, the terrorist fighters had already left the area. 

According to sources on the ground a mass burial took place on Tuesday in the compound of the Catholic church.

ServAfrica Response

A spokesperson for the work of ServAfrica partners in SSA, Jo Newhouse*, stated: “We strongly condemn the attack on Christians peacefully participating in a church program and civilians in the town of Komanda. We call on government at all levels to keep civilians safe and bring to justice to all who are found to be involved in these acts of brutality.”

“Thousands of people have already been affected by the violence in eastern DRC and are living in constant flux – bereaved and severely traumatized. The immediate and long-term human cost of the violence must not be allowed to continue in this manner. All human beings have the right to protection no matter their faith, ethnicity, or gender.”  

“We further call on the international Christian community to remain in prayer over the ongoing insecurity in eastern DRC. Pray for an end to the Islamic radical violence as government at all levels diligently, impartially, and transparently address the violence and its effects. Pray for provision for the Church in eastern DRC as she seeks to bring physical and spiritual assistance to the affected.”

“As ISIS presses on its effort to carve out a caliphate in this Central African territory via the ADF, Christians there need our prayer and support more than ever before,” Ms Newhouse told ServAfrica.