900 Prisoners Freed From Congo Jail After Attack

Armed men freed around 900 prisoners from a jail in Beni, in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in a coordinated attack early Tuesday morning that the town’s mayor attributed to an Islamist militant group operating in the area.

Only 100 out of more than 1,000 inmates remained following the simultaneous assault on the Kangbayi central prison and on the military camp defending it, said the mayor, Modeste Bakwanamaha.

“Unfortunately, the attackers, who came in large numbers, managed to break the door with electrical equipment,” Mr. Bakwanamaha told Reuters by telephone, saying that he believed the assault was carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces.

The Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan armed group active in east Congo since the 1990s, has killed more than 1,000 civilians since the start of 2019, according to the United Nations, despite repeated military campaigns aimed at destroying it.

The attack took place not far from the border with Uganda. No group immediately claimed responsibility for it.