A horrific massacre unfolded in the early hours of July 27, 2025, when Islamic State-
backed rebels stormed a Catholic church in Komanda, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), killing at least 38 worshippers during a prayer vigil.
The attack, carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an ISIS-affiliated group, left 19 men, 15 women, and nine children dead, with several others injured and abducted, according to civil society coordinator Dieudonne Duranthabo (Associated Press, July 27, 2025).
As the global church mourns, this tragedy underscores the escalating persecution of Christians in sub-Saharan Africa, calling believers to prayer and action.
The assault began at 1 a.m. in Komanda, a mineral-rich town plagued by conflict, as ADF militants armed with guns and machetes attacked worshippers gathered for a prayer vigil organized by the Caritas charity.
“More than 21 people were shot dead inside and outside [the church], and we have recorded at least three charred bodies,” Duranthabo told AP. Father Aime Lokana Dhego, a local priest, reported 31 members of the Eucharistic Crusade movement killed, with six seriously injured and some youths kidnapped (National Catholic Register, July 28, 2025).
U.N.-backed Radio Okapi cited 43 deaths, highlighting discrepancies in early reports, while the Congolese army confirmed at least 10 fatalities (Washington Post, July 27, 2025). The attackers, operating from a stronghold 12 kilometers away, also burned houses and shops, fleeing before security forces arrived (NBC News, July 27, 2025).
The ADF, rooted in Uganda’s 1990s unrest under founder Jamil Mukulu, a Christian convert to Islam, pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2019 and has since killed thousands in the Congo-Uganda borderlands (Vatican News, July 27, 2025).
This attack follows a February 2025 massacre in Kasanga, where 70 Christians were beheaded in a Protestant church (Open Doors UK, February 25, 2025).
The Congolese government condemned the attack as “horrific,” while the military labeled it a “large-scale massacre” in retaliation for operations against the ADF (PBS News, July 28, 2025). The M23 rebel group, backed by Rwanda, exploited the tragedy to accuse the government of “blatant incompetence” (Washington Times, July 27, 2025).
Analyst Onesphore Sematumba of the International Crisis Group noted that joint Congolese-Ugandan efforts “have only succeeded in dispersing the ADF without protecting civilians from their wrathful reprisals” (AP News, July 28, 2025). The U.N.’s MONUSCO mission warned that the killings will “exacerbate an already extremely worrying humanitarian situation” (Durango Herald, July 27, 2025). Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani condemned the attack on X, calling for justice (National Catholic Register, July 28, 2025).
