According to a military spokesperson for the Beni region, Kakwangura prison was stormed by armed men. During the attack, two policemen were killed and over 800 prisoners escaped. One of the attackers is also said to have died.
The storming is said to have been carried out by a group known as Mai-Mai, according to the region’s spokesperson Antony Mualushayi. The group is described as an “ethnic liberation organization”.
But according to the organization Kivu Security Tracker, which monitors the unrest in parts of the Congo, it was the militant group Allied Democratic Forces, (ADF) active in Central Africa, that attacked the prison. According to the US, the ADF has links to the terrorist group IS.
Of the prison’s 872 inmates, all but 49 managed to escape.
A similar incident took place in another prison in Beni in October 2020. At that time, 1,300 prisoners escaped. Even then, the ADF was singled out as the aggressor.