Kenyan linked to terror attack that killed five in Congo arrested
On Sunday, January 15, 2023, the Congolese army arrested a Kenyan national believed to be the mastermind of a terror attack in Kasindi, near the Ugandan- Congo border, that killed five people.
Abdirizak Muktar Garad was arrested by the soldiers hours after the deadly attack that took place during a church service that was taking place at a Protestant church in the city located in the Eastern part of Congo.
An army spokesman said the attack during a Sunday service was likely carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). This Ugandan militant group has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
“Despite the security measures put in place, the first indications show that it is the ADF which is behind this bomb attack,” Anthony Mualushay told the media after the incident.
This would be the first time the ADF targeted Kasindi since the group stepped up attacks in the region in 2014, local territorial administrator Charles Omeonga told the media, who said the estimated death toll was at least 10.
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Kasindi is in a province where Congolese and Ugandan forces have launched a campaign against the ADF, which began as an uprising in Uganda but has been based in Congo since the late 1990s.
It pledged allegiance to Islamic State in mid-2019 and is accused of killing hundreds of villagers in frequent raids over the past two years.
In January 2022, a most wanted Kenyan was nabbed in the Congo and was linked to terror-related charges.
The Congolese army seized Salim Rashid Mohamed alias Chotara or Turki Salim on suspicion he was part of the Allied Democratic Forces rebel group conducting raids in northern DRC near the border with Uganda.
Mohamed is a Mombasa resident and a suspected terrorist on whose head Kenya had placed an Sh10 million bounty.
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