Terrorism in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The risk of terrorist attacks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo over the past years can be classified as high. Compared to other countries, it is still placed somewhere in the middle of a terrorism ranking. Over the past 5 years a total number of 395 terrorist incidents has been recorded, in which 1307 people have been killed and 643 injured.

In 167 incedents a total of 1197 people have been kidnapped or taken as hostage, though a ransom was rarely (17 times) extorted.

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Most frequent attack targets in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

(2012 to 2016)

Target	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Private citizens	302	1,051	528	1,081
Military	42	214	44	25
Government	31	92	75	29
Police	28	69	18	5
NGO	11	5	8	56
Business	11	63	12	47
Journalists & Media	8	12	5	6
Religious institutions	5	1	1	11
Airports & Aircraft	4	50	10	0
Tourists	1	0	0	2

Most affected regions

(2012 to 2016)

Region	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
North Kivu	228	951	394	438
Orientale	70	94	77	254
Katanga	20	28	1	16
South Kivu	18	116	153	170
Ituri	16	17	14	57
Haut-Uele	10	0	0	67
Bas-Uele	8	1	1	137
Maniema	3	0	0	12
Haut-Katanga	3	5	0	18
Kasai-Oriental	3	1	0	6
Mongala	3	17	0	0
Kinshasa	2	24	1	1
Kasai Central	2	49	0	0
Equateur	1	1	0	0
Bas-Congo	1	2	0	0
Lualaba	1	0	1	0
Equator	1	0	0	0

Terrorist organisations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Organisation	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Mayi Mayi	23	37	34	83
Nyatura Militia	10	12	6	21
Mai Mai Bakata Katanga Militia	9	0	0	9
Mai Mai Simba Militia	8	28	6	82
M23	6	5	14	0
Mai Mai Mazembe Militia	4	48	20	0
Raia Mutomboki Militia	3	1	0	8
Kamwina Nsapu Militia	2	49	0	0
Colonel Albert Kahasha Militia	1	20	0	0
Mai Mai Manu Militia	1	0	1	0
Hutu extremists	1	19	0	0

All information sourced from the "National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism" (START) and its Global Terrorism Database. An act of terrorism is concidered every incident which is aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal, but not for pure profit motives. In addition these incidents must not be legitimized by warfare activities, listet in the Geneva Conventions of 1949.