KAMPALA – The Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF) and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) say they have killed three Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) fighters and helped to rescue five children and three women.
Major Bilal Katamba, the Public Information Officer of the UPDF Mountain Division/Operation Shujaa said eight people were rescued after a battle against the ADF on the West bank of River Lunah, in Matunguru Valley, North East of Maitatu, Irumu territory, Ituri Province in Eastern DRC on Saturday, January 20, 2024.
“The Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF) and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) in the ongoing joint operation against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) terrorists in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) yesterday (20th January 2024) put out of action three terrorists, rescued five children and three women,” Major Katamba said in a statement.
He said that the rescued women were abducted by the ADF when they ambushed and hit a bus they were travelling in from Kamanda to Beni. The bus was hit at Ndalya on the 5th of November 2021.
“They had since been under captivity,” he said adding that the joint forces also recovered an RPG bomb and medicines that were being used by the rebels.
“The joint forces continue to pursue the rebels who are still on the run having been routed out of Mwalika Valley late last year by the joint forces,” Major Katamba added.
The ADF is a Ugandan but Islamist militant rebel group that uses eastern Congo as its base. It was established in 1996 and has carried out several bomb attacks inside Uganda’s capital, Kampala, the most recent being in 2022 where at least five people were killed.
The ADF operates in eastern Congo’s Ituri and North Kivu provinces, where Uganda deployed the Mountain Brigade in Operation Shujaa, jointly with the DRC government to hunt down, fight and uproot the rebel group from its bases.
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