{"id":2000103995,"date":"2026-03-03T11:05:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000103995"},"modified":"2026-03-04T11:06:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T09:06:22","slug":"afc-m23-forces-strike-back-at-kinshasa-drone-attacks-after-ngomas-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/afc-m23-forces-strike-back-at-kinshasa-drone-attacks-after-ngomas-killing\/","title":{"rendered":"AFC\/M23 forces strike back at Kinshasa drone attacks after Ngoma\u2019s killing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In an official communique, the group said its forces, positioned on the outskirts of Kisangani, neutralised drones that were \u201cabout to be launched to massacre civilians and attack our positions.\u201d AFC\/M23 described the operation as a \u201cpatriotic duty to protect innocent populations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lt Col Ngoma, a senior official within the group, was reportedly killed in a drone strike by Kinshasa forces in Rubaya on February 24, a development that AFC\/M23 said underscores the government\u2019s violation of the ceasefire and its strategy of terror targeting both soldiers and civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe blood of our compatriots who were brutally murdered, including Lieutenant Colonel Ngoma, will neither be forgotten nor passed over in silence,\u201d AFC\/M23’s spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said in a communiqu\u00e9. \u201cThe Kinshasa regime and its criminal coalition bear full responsibility for these heinous crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group vowed that operations to neutralize the drone threat would continue \u201cresolutely\u201d as long as civilian populations remain at risk in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. AFC\/M23 reaffirmed its solidarity with affected communities and its determination to defend and protect civilians from any threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
AFC\/M23 said the attack that killed Col. Willy Ngoma targeted both soldiers and civilians far from the front lines.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The AFC\/M23 rebel alliance announced late Monday that its forces carried out targeted operations against combat drones deployed by Kinshasa government forces, in response to ongoing attacks on civilians and the recent killing of their military spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Willy Ngoma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000103997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[151,72,99],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000103995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-editors-choice","tag-featured-news-home","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000103997,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kanyuka-26-e903f.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1000,"height":583,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kanyuka-26-e903f.jpg","width":150,"height":87},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kanyuka-26-e903f.jpg","width":300,"height":175},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kanyuka-26-e903f.jpg","width":768,"height":448},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kanyuka-26-e903f.jpg","width":1000,"height":583},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kanyuka-26-e903f.jpg","width":1000,"height":583}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000103995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000103995"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000103995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000103998,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000103995\/revisions\/2000103998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000103997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000103995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000103995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000103995"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000103995"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000103995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}