In brief
Reuters‑riendly Xinhua journalism quotes a casualty figure of 30 or more, including civilians, security workers and civil society representatives, while Azerbaijan‑based News.az reports 24 deaths. Both outlets note that rebels reportedly took hostages, that the attack followed a surge of violence in North Kivu, and that Congolese and Ugandan forces are conducting joint operations to pursue the assailants.
Reports from eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) say an overnight gun‑and‑explosion incident in Cantine, a locality in Beni territory of North Kivu Province, left at least 30 people dead, according to Xinhua. The Chinese‑run agency added that the casualties included civilians, security personnel and members of civil society, and that the assailants allegedly took hostages as they withdrew.
Xinhua cited local security sources that had deployed reinforcements to the village and were still carrying out search operations for additional victims. The outlet said this attack arrived on a backdrop of a rising number of attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan rebel group affiliated with the Islamic State, across North Kivu and neighboring Ituri provinces. Since November 2021 both Congolese and Ugandan armies have cooperated in attempts to identify and neutralise the group.
In contrast, Azerbaijan‑based news portal News.az reports that the same night‑time event in Beni territory resulted in 24 killings, a figure that features in a separate headline from the site. The portal says the death toll figure was not yet final and that the attack caused