In brief
In the village of Cantine in North Kivu, armed men tied to the Allied Democratic Forces killed at least 33 civilians, set fire to over 50 houses, and destroyed a health post, forcing 180 patients – many with suspected Ebola – to flee. Local officials and civil society groups blame the ADF for the assault amid the region’s still‑ongoing Ebola crisis.
On the night of November 6, 2026, armed men linked to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) raided the village of Cantine, about 50 km west of Beni in North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least thirty‑three people and setting more than fifty houses on fire.
The attackers also set ablaze a nearby health post, forcing 180 patients – including those with confirmed or suspected Ebola infections – to flee, authorities said. The raid occurred against the backdrop of a rapid‑spreading Ebola outbreak that has already claimed more than five thousand lives in the country.
An estimated 110 buildings were damaged in the attack, with many homes destroyed by flames within close proximity to the hospital complex that treats the region’s Ebola cases. The conflagration was reported to have spread as far as half a kilometer from the health post.
"High‑risk contacts and other individuals under monitoring have all fled. 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," said Christian Kakule, medical director of the Kelekele Hospital Centre in Cantine.
Beni territorial administrator Colonel Charles Omeonga told Reuters that fighters with the ADF "brutally set fire to several houses and killed civilians" during the overnight assault.
Justin Paluku, head of a local civil society group, explained that the death toll reached thirty‑three bodies and more than fifty houses were set ablaze.
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 to the AP news agency. Nearby civil society leader Tchetche Aliamini confirmed that most of the victims suffered gunshot wounds, while others had been burned or hacked with machetes, according to Reuters.
North Kivu accounted for almost half of all new Ebola infections in the 2026‑2027 outbreak and remains the second most affected province after the epicentre province of Ituri. The ADF, originally rooted in Uganda, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2019 and is considered an ISIL‑affiliated group.
The assault has intensified fears that the disruption of medical services and displacement of patients could spark a new surge in Ebola cases. Local officials and civil society groups urge the international community to enhance security around health facilities and to support contact tracing efforts in the region.
