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After reports of a horrific attack against believers, Open Doors has found evidence of abduction and killings, and calls on the international community to pursue the truth
On February 15, multiple reports emerged that a horrific massacre had taken place in eastern Democratic of the Congo (DRC). Allegedly, 70 Christians had been abducted from their village of Mayba and taken to the nearby town of Kasanga where they were beheaded.
"They told us the people are finished. They were killed in a church."
Church elder in Mayba
Immediately following the initial reports, Open Doors' field teams spoke on the phone with trusted partners in the area, including a seasoned journalist and a church elder, who both confirmed the incident.
But reports began to surface that the massacre had not taken place. And so, Open Doors sent a representative to the area to try to verify what had happened—and learn how we can pray and support the Christian community in this part of the DRC.
When our representative reached the area, several witnesses—who spoke to him on condition of anonymity—confirmed the abduction. However, due to ongoing insecurity, our representative was unable to access Kasanga and was unable to find conclusive information on the alleged subsequent massacre.
Shortly after that, Open Doors again sent an investigative team to the area to try and locate eyewitnesses and/or families of the deceased. This new team was still unable to access Kasanga due to insecurity. Although people from Mayba had been scattered to different areas (the entire area is in an extremely volatile region of the DRC) and appeared to be moving around, this team was at least able to speak to some residents from Mayba who could provide firsthand information about the kidnapping.
The investigative team was able to learn some of what happened—and their findings are a stark reminder of the reality facing followers of Jesus in this part of DRC. This is why Open Doors is calling for a thorough, independent investigation into this attack, along with protective measures for all civilians in eastern DRC.
The investigative team found convincing evidence that the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)—Islamic militants with ties to the Islamic State group—abducted a large group of people from the Mayba region and took them to the church in Kasanga. A 43-year-old Christian from Mayba told our team, "During the evening, we had learned that the [ADF] had just arrived." Note: Throughout this story, we are not identifying local believers by name for their own safety.
The Christian said a person who looked drunk or drugged arrived in the village with their hands tied. The person asked to be untied and warned villagers of an impending attack.
"It's directly then that the [area] became turbulent," the believer recounts. "We started the trip [to flee] directly that same night. We didn't bring our belongings. We came empty-handed." Later, people told this local believer that the ADF had taken a group of Christians.
It is also clear to Open Doors' investigative team that the attackers then lingered at the church in Kasanga with the captives for some time. But what exactly happened next is unclear.
The overwhelming number of people in the area we spoke to believed that a mass killing had happened in Mayba. Those the team spoke to in this second round of investigation didn't know the exact number people killed, or exactly what had happened, but they stated that an unknown number of bodies had been buried, and that mourning had taken place.
One person told us that they heard the news of the massacre on the radio but didn't believe it until he spoke to a "rescuer" (likely a civil society member who helps to claim bodies) who discovered the bodies in the church.
"The information is from a Mayba rescuer," said one interviewee, a church elder who also confirmed that one group was taken from Karmeli hill—part of the Mayba region—followed by a second, larger group.
"They told us the people are finished. They were killed in a church," the elder said.
Another elder from Matuna—a town about 40 kilometers from Mayba—also provided insight: "This information that says people were killed is true and ... it's confirmed," he says. "There was a radio station that communicated about this, it's true. People were killed in a church. I had found a person who had seen the corpses, and two families had organized a mourning [for those] who died ... [those] found in the church, already killed."
Another local pastor echoed these reports. "We heard there was a big killing done there," he said. "This is what led people to leave their [homes]. Yes, that is to say, the killings of the ADF. Many of our Christians were killed. And the others were taken. So, we don't know if they were killed in the places where they were taken. So far, we have no news. But we know that some of their bodies were found."
Reports from displaced people from the region were also key sources for the Open Doors' investigative team. "We didn't see their bodies, which were cut by the machetes, but the displaced who came from Kasanga and from Karmeli, they are the ones who came to give us the news that the people who were captured at Mayba, have just been killed at the Kasanga Church," said someone who works with a civil society group.
But eyewitness confirmation of the incident—including the number of dead, the method of the killing and the specifics of the timeline—remain impossible to substantiate. This is why Open Doors is urgently advocating for a full investigation.
"As a not-for-profit organization, we do not have the resources, expertise, or access to conduct further investigation into these claims," explains Jo Newhouse*, Open Doors' spokesperson for our work in sub-Saharan Africa. "We know there will be no better news to families of the affected than to hear that this was all 'fake news,' and that their captured loved ones are still alive and may still have a way to find freedom through rescue or escape. That is our sincere prayer.
"But until then, the international community owes the people of North Kivu generally, and Kasanga in particular, a debt of a thorough, independent investigation into the claims that 70 Christians, including women, children, and many elderly, were brutally massacred in a church on February 15. Silence or moving on without knowing is not an option."
It's also important to note that this incident is only part of a much broader trend in this part of the DRC. The ADF regularly attacks civilians and has been known to target Christians. A recent motion for a resolution that came before European Parliament notes that local authorities reported more than 200 civilians were killed by the ADF in December 2024 alone. The situation for followers of Jesus in the DRC is volatile and dangerous. This instability is why it was too dangerous for our investigative team to even travel to the church that was the site of the alleged atrocity.
It's also part of a horrific trend across sub-Saharan Africa, the world's deadliest place for Christians. This violence is too often ignored and forgotten by many outside of sub-Saharan Africa—including Christians. That's why Open Doors has called for international attention, and has started the Arise Africa campaign, a multi-year effort to raise the voices of people around the world—to stand up and say that the violence must stop.
If you'd like to get involved with Arise Africa, please add your name and your prayers to our petition. We plan to present this petition before the United Nations and governments across the world in late 2026, showing international leaders that God's people are suffering and they need the help of the global community to stop the violence and start the healing. Click here to get involved and start the healing.
