Charred bodies, wounded soldiers after Congo army victory

Charred bodies, wounded soldiers after Congo army victory

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Discarded military fatigues, boots, trash, a charred corpse inside a smouldering hut: this is all that remains of a Ugandan rebel base in the wake of what the Congolese army says was an important victory.

Democratic Republic of Congo's army launched its latest offensive last month against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist insurgency originally based in Uganda that has moved across the border into eastern Congo.

. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

Congolese authorities accuse the ADF of carrying out a series of attacks around the town of Beni between 2014 and 2016 that killed more than 800 people, many of them hacked to death with machetes during the night. The rebels are also blamed for an attack on a United Nations base in December that killed 15 peacekeepers and five Congolese soldiers.

"We're planning how to pursue them until the end," said Colonel Willy Mboneza Babyondo, head of the unit that destroyed the base, as Congolese soldiers hauled their wounded comrades out of the dense forest atop improvised stretchers

"We cannot allow a foreign group to continue to kill, to massacre, our people," he said.

. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

But the victory amid the lush, rugged mountains comes as Congo risks sliding back into the cycle of war that killed millions, most from hunger and disease, at the turn of the century.

The ADF is just one of many groups across the vast, mineral-rich nation that are responsible for a deadly spike in attacks.

. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic
Congolese soldiers stand in front of the body of an ADF fighter who was killed in a rebel camp.

More than 4.4 million people have been displaced by violence that has been aggravated by President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to step down at the end of his mandate in 2016.

More than 532,000 people fled their homes in just two territories along the border with Uganda in 2016 and 2017. The United Nations has warned that the current offensive against the ADF is likely to displace nearly 370,000 more.

. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

But Congolese officers say the operations are necessary and point to one particular disfigured body discovered among the scattered remnants of the ADF base as evidence of their progress. They say the man was Muhammad Kayira, one of the ADF's senior operations commanders.

"I cannot rejoice because this fighter has fallen. I can simply say it is an important step," said General Marcel Mbangu, one of the Congolese army's top commanders in the east. "In the end, the final result we're seeking is nothing more than peace and security."

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Slideshow

A Congolese soldier carries a box of bullets.
. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

A Congolese soldier carries a box of bullets.

Soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo listen to General Marcel Mbangu before a mission.
. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

Soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo listen to General Marcel Mbangu before a mission.

Soldiers stand in front of their temporary base before a mission.
. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

Soldiers stand in front of their temporary base before a mission.

A Congolese soldier rests at a temporary base.
. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

A Congolese soldier rests at a temporary base.

Congolese soldiers look at an injured comrade after the army took control of an ADF rebel camp.
. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

Congolese soldiers look at an injured comrade after the army took control of an ADF rebel camp.

A wounded Congolese soldier rests in the forest.
. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

A wounded Congolese soldier rests in the forest.

A Congolese soldier stands in an ADF rebel camp.
. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

A Congolese soldier stands in an ADF rebel camp.

A Congolese soldier from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo inspects an ADF bunker.
. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

A Congolese soldier from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo inspects an ADF bunker.

Congolese soldiers rest in an ADF rebel camp.
. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

Congolese soldiers rest in an ADF rebel camp.

Soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo rest.
. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

Soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo rest.

Soldiers take selfies after the army took over an ADF rebel camp.
. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

Soldiers take selfies after the army took over an ADF rebel camp.

A soldier from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo uses a machete to clear a path.
. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

A soldier from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo uses a machete to clear a path.

Congolese soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo walk after taking over a rebel camp.
. Kimbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

Congolese soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo walk after taking over a rebel camp.

People hit the body of a dead ADF female rebel fighter in the town of Mbau.
. Mbau, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

People hit the body of a dead ADF female rebel fighter in the town of Mbau.