ADF attack in eastern Congo forces Ebola patients to flee

Overview

Updated 1 hour ago

Fighters attacked three districts of Cantine, a village about 50 kilometres west of Beni in North Kivu, shortly before midnight on Thursday. They shot and hacked residents and burned more than 50 houses. Local officials and civil society leaders blame the Allied Democratic Forces, an armed group that pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2019.

At least 33 people were killed. The attackers also set fire to the local health post, and 180 patients left the Kelekele Hospital Centre in Cantine, including one confirmed Ebola case and an unknown number of suspected ones. North Kivu is carrying almost half of all new infections in Congo's Bundibugyo outbreak.

Why it matters

Ebola spreads by contact. Every patient who fled Cantine is a possible new chain of transmission in Congo's hardest-hit province.

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Key Indicators

Civilians killed in Cantine

Body count reported by local civil society leader Justin Paluku, described as provisional.

180

Patients who fled Kelekele Hospital Centre

Includes one confirmed Ebola case and an unspecified number of suspected cases.

50+

Houses burned

Local civil society count; the Anadolu Agency reported about 60 houses and businesses destroyed.

10,000+

Ebola cases recorded across Congo

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention tally for the Bundibugyo outbreak.

5,300

Ebola deaths recorded across Congo

Africa CDC figure for the same outbreak.

~100

Armed groups operating in eastern Congo

Includes the ADF and the Rwanda-backed M23, which has seized key cities in the east.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

People Involved

Justin Paluku

Head of a local civil society group in Beni territory

Documenting casualties from the Cantine attack

Christian Kakule

Medical director, Kelekele Hospital Centre, Cantine

Treating patients after the hospital was emptied

Colonel Charles Omeonga

Territorial administrator, Beni territory

Confirming the attack and casualty figures

Tchetche Aliamini

Local civil society leader

Confirming the death toll to Reuters

Ahmad Mahmood Hassan (Abwakasi)

ADF faction commander

At large

Organizations Involved

Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)

Armed group

Blamed for the Cantine attack

An armed group with Ugandan roots that pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2019 and operates in the borderlands of eastern Congo.

Kelekele Hospital Centre

Health facility

Emptied by the attack

The hospital in Cantine that treated the area's Ebola patients and lost 180 of them overnight.

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

Regional health agency

Tracking the Bundibugyo outbreak

The African Union's public health agency, which has recorded more than 10,000 Ebola cases and 5,300 deaths across Congo in the current outbreak.

Operation Shujaa

Joint military operation

Ongoing for nearly five years

The joint Congolese-Ugandan military campaign against the ADF in eastern Congo.

Timeline

2019 November 2026

7 events Latest: Today

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November 2026
ADF attack on Cantine kills at least 33
Today Armed conflict

Fighters hit three districts around 11pm local time, burning homes and a health post; 180 patients flee.
Today • 04:00 GMT
May 2026
Attacks kill at least 50 civilians in a week
Armed conflict

Raids across Mambasa and North Kivu intensify alongside the Ebola outbreak.
May 2026
April 2026
ADF raids Bafwakoa village in Mambasa
Armed conflict

More than 70 civilians killed and homes burned, triggering mass displacement.
April 2026
March 2026
ADF raids Muchacha mining site in Ituri
Armed conflict

At least 17 civilians killed at first; the toll later rises to 67.
March 11th, 2026
July 2025
ADF kills 66 civilians in eastern Congo
Armed conflict

The United Nations calls the massacre a bloodbath.
July 2025
2021
Operation Shujaa begins
Military

Congolese and Ugandan forces launch a joint campaign against the ADF.
2021
2019
ADF pledges allegiance to Islamic State
Armed conflict

The group joins the Islamic State franchise, changing how its attacks are framed internationally.
2019

Scenarios

Ebola cases linked to the Cantine escapees are confirmed

Likely Resolves by Jan 31, 2027

Discussed by: Christian Kakule, medical director of Kelekele Hospital Centre, and Africa CDC outbreak reporting

Kakule warned that probable cases leaving the hospital untracked could become a transmission source. If any of the 180 patients or their high-risk contacts test positive, the attack becomes an epidemiological event as well as a security one, and contact tracing has to run in territory where armed groups operate.

ADF carries out another mass-casualty raid in Beni territory

Likely Resolves by Feb 28, 2027

Discussed by: Institute for Security Studies analysis of ADF attack patterns

The ISS notes that ADF attacks intensify after military operations and target communities seen as cooperating with Congolese forces. Its pattern through 2026 has been repeated raids on villages and mining sites, with cleared areas re-infiltrated within weeks.

All 180 fled patients are traced and contained without further transmission

Possible Resolves by End of 2026

Discussed by: Provincial health authorities and Ebola response teams

Congo's outbreak response has traced contacts through previous outbreaks in North Kivu. If teams can locate the 180 patients and their high-risk contacts and monitor them through the incubation period, the Cantine raid stays a security catastrophe rather than a superspreading event.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

2018-2020

North Kivu Ebola outbreak (2018-2020)

An Ebola outbreak centred on North Kivu became the Democratic Republic of Congo's largest and deadliest on record. It unfolded in the same province, among the same armed groups, and with the same difficulty reaching patients in contested territory.

Then

Response teams operated under armed escort, and attacks on health workers repeatedly paused vaccination and tracing.

Now

It stood as Congo's worst outbreak until the current Bundibugyo epidemic surpassed it in 2026.

Why this matters now

North Kivu has now been the epicentre of four Ebola outbreaks. The Cantine raid shows the same collision of armed conflict and outbreak response that defined 2018-2020.

July 2025

ADF massacre in eastern Congo (July 2025)

ADF fighters killed 66 people in eastern Congo in a single attack. The United Nations described the killings as a bloodbath.

Then

The attack drew international condemnation but no change in the military posture against the group.

Now

It set the pattern for 2026: repeated mass-casualty raids on villages and mining sites despite Operation Shujaa.

Why this matters now

Cantine follows the same template, with the added consequence of scattering Ebola patients.

2019

ADF joins the Islamic State franchise (2019)

The ADF, a group with Ugandan roots that had operated in the border region for years, pledged allegiance to Islamic State. Fighters and factions were subsequently described as ISIL-linked in international coverage.

Then

The pledge brought the group into a global militant network and changed how its attacks were categorized.

Now

It raised the international profile of a conflict that had been treated largely as a local insurgency.

Why this matters now

The ISIL affiliation is why the Cantine killings are reported as an Islamic State-linked attack rather than a purely local massacre.