Armed men thought to be linked to an ISIL-affiliated group have raided villages in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing civilians and setting fire to homes and a health post, according to authorities and local civil society leaders.

The overnight assault took place in and around Cantine, about 50km west of Beni in North Kivu province. Local officials and civil society representatives attributed responsibility to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), although the attackers were described as only being thought to have links to an ISIL-affiliated group.

Colonel Charles Omeonga, the Beni territorial administrator, said ADF fighters had burned several houses and killed civilians. Justin Paluku, who heads a local civil society group, said 33 bodies had been counted and that more than 50 houses were set on fire.

“So far, we have counted 33 bodies and more than 50 houses set on fire, along with various other forms of material destruction,” Paluku said, according to the Associated Press.

Tchetche Aliamini, another local civil society leader, confirmed the reported death toll and said most of the victims had suffered gunshot wounds. Others, he said, were burned or hacked with machetes.

Many villagers fled to other parts of North Kivu after the violence, according to the report.

Hospital patients flee

The attack also disrupted medical services at Kelekele Hospital Centre in Cantine. Christian Kakule, the hospital’s medical director, said about 180 patients fled, including people suspected of having Ebola and one confirmed Ebola case.

Kakule said gunfire and burning homes were reported as close as 50 metres from the hospital. He also said high-risk contacts and other people under monitoring had left the facility.

“High-risk contacts and other individuals under monitoring have all fled,” Kakule said.

The displacement has raised concerns about Ebola surveillance and containment, particularly because people who may require monitoring were no longer at the hospital. “Our concern is that when probable cases end up out in the open like this, they can become a source of transmission and trigger an outbreak of the disease,” Kakule said.

The health post was also set on fire during the attack. The reported violence occurred in a province that has experienced previous Ebola outbreaks, including the 2018–2020 outbreak. Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention figures cited in the report record more than 10,000 Ebola cases and 5,300 deaths across the DRC.

Security concerns

Paluku described the incident as a major security failure, questioning how the attackers had bypassed loyalist and security forces deployed in the area.

The ADF has roots in Uganda, pledged allegiance to ISIL in 2019 and has operated for years in the border region. The group has routinely attacked civilians, according to the report. The United Nations said the ADF killed 66 people in eastern DRC in July 2025 in an incident it described as a bloodbath.

North Kivu is the second most affected province in the current Ebola outbreak after Ituri and accounts for almost half of new infections in the DRC’s Bundibugyo outbreak, according to the report. The wider country is also affected by the activities of about 100 armed groups, including the Rwanda-backed M23.