A makeshift bomb exploded inside a Catholic church in the city of Beni in the DR Congo's conflict-plagued east on Sunday, injuring two just an hour before a children's Confirmation ceremony was due to be held.

The head of police in Beni's town hall Narcisse Muteba Kashale told AFP that the explosion occurred at 6:00 am (0400 GMT) and that experts from the UN's mission to DR Congo had told "us it is a home-made bomb, a bomb that was set up for an ambush".

Beni's vicar general Laurent Sondirya said two people were injured in the blast, which went off before crowds would have gathered to attend the Confirmation ceremony.

"They were targeting a large crowd because the ceremony would bring together children, their parents and the faithful," he told AFP, adding that "mass would not be postponed".

Traces of blood could seen at the entrance to the church in the aftermath of the explosion, an AFP reporter said, while shards of glass where scattered inside and the sound equipment was destroyed.

It marks the first time a building belonging to the Catholic Church, the city's largest religion, has been directly targeted in Beni territory, where the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia is accused of killing 6,000 people since 2013, according to the Catholic episcopate.

Two imams in Beni known for speaking out against the ADF violence were shot dead in May, one inside the city's mosque and the other after evening prayers.

The ADF is the deadliest of an estimated 120 armed militia groups that roam the mineral-rich east of the vast central African country, many of them a legacy of two regional wars from 1996 to 2003.

It is historically a Ugandan Islamist group that has holed up in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since 1995.

The ADF is accused of killing hundreds of civilians since launching operations from a base in the jungle around Beni in November 2019.

In March, the United States said the ADF was linked to the Islamic State group.

kingxsamz:
Nawa.
Wait untill they find out that a bible was on the alter and the bomb didn't affect it. And then Christians will jubilate and call it a miracle, forgetting that a bomb just exploded in their "Father's house", where their father has promised to protect them. Funny lots.

kingxsamz:
Nawa.
Wait untill they find out that a bible was on the alter and the bomb didn't affect it. And then Christians will jubilate and call it a miracle, forgetting that a bomb just exploded in their "Father's house", where their father has promised to protect them. Funny lots.

kingxsamz:
Nawa.
Wait untill they find out that a bible was on the alter and the bomb didn't affect it. And then Christians will jubilate and call it a miracle, forgetting that a bomb just exploded in their "Father's house", where their father has promised to protect them. Funny lots.

mansakhalifa:
The very minute I read:

1. Bomb blast

2. Catholic Church

3. In Eastern DR Congo

My brain immediately told me that it had to be the ADF that was behind such an attack. Those jihadist-wannabes are easily the only recognisable Islamist militant group operating within DRC's borders.

The very weird thing is that the founder of the group behind this particular church attack has his roots in the Christianity. He was born a Christian and was even a Christian preacher before he met some Asian Muslims(based in Uganda) who encouraged him to pick up Islam after which he went to Saudi Arabia.

His name is Jamil Mukulu(birth name: David Steven)

The minute he(Mukulu) returned from Saudi Arabia, he began to fight everyone in sight(including the Ugandan government) saying that he wanted to "turn Uganda into an Islamic State".

It was when Uganda became too hot for him that he fled into Eastern Congo with his group and started this nonsense that we are currently looking at.

He's now in ICC custody(he was arrested in Tanzania) but his group has simply refused to surrender. Why should they? They've got a lawless and vast region like Eastern Kivu to play around in. This is a region that is already home to hundreds of other militia groups.

Their current leader is a guy called Musa Baluku. Baluku was Mukulu's 2ic before the latter was captured in TZ.

Patrioticman007:
Lord resistance army (LRA) remnants.
"Two imams in Beni known for speaking out against the ADF violence were shot dead in May, one inside the city's mosque and the other after evening prayers".