On Christmas Day in Beni, east Congo, a suicide bomber set fire to a restaurant killing at least five others and himself.
Witnesses say that over 30 people were enjoying Christmas at Beni’s In Box Bar and Restaurant when the bomber hit.
Six people perished in the blast, and 14 others were wounded. A city hall source also reported that two children died along with two local officials.
Officials blamed Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia that was one of most dangerous armed groups in the area and claimed central Africa by the Islamic State.
While the ADF has not yet claimed responsibility, this bombing represents the latest violence in a area in which Congolese or Ugandan forces were engaged in combat with Islamists.

Witnesses say that over 30 people were enjoying Christmas at Beni’s In Box Bar and Restaurant when the bomber hit.

Six people perished in the blast, and 14 others were wounded. A city hall source also reported that two children died along with two officials.

According to witnesses, more than 30 people were enjoying Christmas at Beni’s In Box bar/restaurant when the bomber hit. Beni lies in the east Congo about 50 miles from Ugandan borders, and has seen months of fighting between ADF troops and Congolese soldiers.
Soon after the explosion, Narcisse Mutema, the colonel in charge of the city’s east during the emergency declared that residents should return home for Christmas.
Over 30 people had been celebrating Christmas at that location when the bomb went off. Broken glass, tables and chairs were found scattered throughout the blast site.
Nicolas Ekila, local radio presenter said: “I was sitting there.”
The motorbike was there. The motorbike started to move, and there was then a loud bang.
Police officers took the injured to nearby hospitals. They were then sealed.
‘The suicide bomber, prevented by security guards from entering a crowded bar, activated the bomb at the entrance of the bar,’ the regional governor’s spokesman, Général Ekenge Sylvain, said in a statement.
Sylvain claimed that terrorists belonging to the Allied Democratic Forces, a group affiliated with Islamic State, activated a sleeper cells’ in Beni in order to attack citizens. However, he didn’t provide any evidence linking them to the blast.
Sylvain said, “We ask people to stay vigilant and to avoid crowded places during the holiday season,”
“In Beni it’s difficult to identify who’s who in this time.”

Beni’s residents are furious at the continued insecurity, despite the U.N. peacekeepers and an army offensive.
Saturday’s attack marks the first suicide bomber to have killed anyone in eastern Congo. This was after an Islamic State affiliate took control of a suicide blast near another Beni bar that had not caused any other deaths.
Residents in the area have expressed their dismay at the continued insecurity, despite the army offensive and presence of U.N peacekeepers in Beni.
Two women were injured by a bomb that was thrown at a Catholic Church. The bomb also killed a man.
A second device, which did not inflict any harm, exploded near a gas station the previous day. Authorities blamed the ADF for those attacks.
Regular clashes have been held between ADF and army in Beni (North Kivu Province, DRC’s Eastern Border with Uganda).
North Kivu, Ituri and neighboring Ituri have been under “state of besiege” since May. This emergency measure allows the military to take effective control. But it is not able stop attacks by the militia.

‘The suicide bomber, prevented by security guards from entering a crowded bar, activated the bomb at the entrance of the bar,’ the regional governor’s spokesman, Général Ekenge Sylvain, said in a statement. You could see chairs, bottles and parts of bodies littering the scene.

A soldier of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, (UPDF), is seen at a checkpoint in Beni on the Mbau–Kamango road. The UPDF soldiers are repairing a critical road in eastern DR Congo before an expected push against ADF rebels. Photo dated Dec. 10, 2021

On December 8, 2021, a soldier of the DRCongo armed force travels along the Mbau-Kamango Road in Beni.
The DRC and Uganda jointly launched an operation in East Uganda against the ADF on November 30 to stop bloody ADF attacks. Uganda blames the ADF for numerous attacks on its territory.
Historisch, the ADF was a Ugandan rebel alliance whose largest group included Muslims who opposed President Yoweri Museveni.
It was established in Eastern DRC in 1995 and became the most dangerous of all the outlawed groups in this troubled area.
The DRC has seen thousands of civilians killed over the last decade. Bombings also took place in Kampala, Uganda.
Islamic State presents the ADF, the Islamic State Central Africa Province (or ISCAP) as the regional branch of its Islamic State Group.
ADF was added to the United States’ list of terrorist groups affiliated with IS Jihadists on March 11.