On 15 January 2023, a bomb

explode An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...

d during a Sunday service in a

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

church in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. It happened in

Kasindi Kasindi is a town in north eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Location Kasindi is located in North Kivu, about southeast of the city of Beni, the nearest large city. This is approximately north of the provincial capital of Goma. The coordina ...

, which is in North Kivu and is close to the Ugandan border. At least 17 people were killed and 39 more were injured in the attack, which was claimed by the

Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

. Authorities blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan Islamist group whose

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregu ...

began in 1996 and spread to the DRC; the group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. A Kenyan was arrested at the scene.

References

{{Portal bar, Christianity, Crime, DRC, Islam 2023 murders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Attacks on buildings and structures in 2023 Attacks on churches in Africa Church bombings by Islamists Improvised explosive device bombings in 2023 Islamic terrorist incidents in 2023 January 2023 crimes in Africa January 2023 events in the Democratic Republic of the Congo North Kivu