A late-night assault on a Catholic health facility in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo has left around 20 civilians dead, prompting renewed outcry from missionaries who say global leaders are failing to respond to escalating violence in the region.
The attack unfolded on the late evening of November 14 in Byambwe, a remote village in North Kivu’s Diocese of Butembo-Beni.
Armed men belonging to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) - a group that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State more than a decade ago - stormed a medical centre operated by the Little Sisters of the Presentation.
Local sources report that patients were murdered in their beds before the assailants torched the building, including its maternity unit.
Homes surrounding the clinic were also set ablaze as the attackers swept through the village before disappearing into the adjacent forest.
Speaking to Vatican News, Father Giovanni Piumatti, an Italian fidei donum missionary who served in the region for more than fifty years, described the assault as consistent with the ADF’s brutal signature.
“Fifteen people were killed in the clinic and another five in the surrounding area” he said.
“They set fire to the entire facility and twenty-seven nearby homes. Before destroying everything, they looted all the medical supplies—I believe that was their main objective. Panic spread everywhere.”
“The army pursued them, but despite its efforts, the terrorists escaped. They seem to be better armed and equipped than the regular forces.”
Fr Piumatti added that the manner of killing was “horrific”, noting that civilians were executed by beheading or throat-slitting.
“Here they killed mothers as they were breastfeeding their babies” he stated.
“These massacres are beyond imagination, and they happen almost every week. Many go unreported.”
Authorities believe the same militant network carried out a deadly assault on a Christian congregation in Komanda, Ituri Province, earlier this year 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 around the world who continue to suffer violence and persecution,” the Pope said at the time, urging both 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 drugs,” with child recruits compelled to continue the violence after adults initiate it.
The latest raid has driven many residents from their homes; some have not returned.
With their facility reduced to ashes, the sisters have been tending to survivors in 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 global powers.
He said: “Kivu is rich in mineral deposits — a land full of precious resources that has always been contested. That is why these Islamist groups receive backing. The ADF are the most ferocious, but they are not the only ones supplied with weapons and money to keep trade flowing. These conflicts serve commercial 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, even as the national government confronts an escalating wave of Islamist-driven violence.
