Ugandan Forces Kill ADF Rebels Crossing Border From DR Congo
A joint DR Congo-Uganda operation against the Islamic State affiliated group is continuing. The rebels were intercepted as they tried to escape into Uganda, the military says.
Ugandan forces have killed at least 11 rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), as an operation against the Islamic State affiliated group continues on both sides of the border.
Eight other rebels were captured in Kyapa, a village in the Ugandan district of Ntoroko, near the DR Congo Boga region, where an ADF camp was destroyed last week, according to the military.
Ugandan defense forces spokesperson, Brigadier -General Felix Kulayigye said a group of ADF terrorists from the DR Congo entered Uganda passing through the Semuliki river on Dec 13, before being intercepted.
“About 20 to 30 ADF combatants last night crossed the Semuliki river in Kyanja in the district of Ntoroko. Our intelligence services caught wind of their presence and they were intercepted. Fighting ensued to decisively deal with the group. 11 of them were killed”, Brig-Gen Kulayige said.
Besides the killed and captured assailants, the Ugandan Defense Ministry indicates that arms and ammunition were seized. The Ugandan army spokesperson did not however say whether the ADF inflicted casualties on the Ugandan defence forces.
Military sources confirmed that fighting was still going on in the village of Kyapa on Dec 13.
The incursion of the ADF into Uganda was equally confirmed by the DR Congo army. The spokesperson of the joint military operations by the DR Congo army, FARDC and the Ugandan Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF), Colonel Mak Hazukay revealed that the ADF found their way into Uganda due to pressure from the FARDC-UPDF coalition forces after the destruction of their camp in Beu near Boga where about 30 ADF combatants were killed.
Boga is the chief town of the Bahema-Boga chiefdom, an entity which extends right to the river Semuliki at the border with Uganda. With Banyali-Tchabi, Bahema-Boga are the two Irumu chiefdoms situated at the limit with North Kivu and notably at the foot of the Ruwenzori chain where the ADF rebels have taken refuge, escaping from being tracked down in neighbouring North Kivu.
The ADF are thought to be the group that featured in a recent 20-minute propaganda video released by Islamic State. The clip shows the group, named as Islamic State Central Africa, training with weapons and assaulting villages, burning trucks, killing civilians and Gendarmes, and looting churches.
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