Islamic State Expands China-Targeted Campaign from Asia to Africa with New DRC Mine Camp Attack
On the night of March 11 to 12, fighters linked to the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP) mounted a coordinated assault on Chinese gold mining facilities in Muchacha and nearby Mavuvu in Mambasa territory, Ituri province, in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). People were killed or kidnapped while others fled the area. This ISCAP attack on Chinese run-mining sites in the DRC is notable not only for its brutality, but because it may mark an expansion of Islamic State’s anti-China campaign from Asia into Africa, where previous IS attacks on Chinese interests and nationals have been almost exclusively concentrated in South and Central Asia. The operation in northeastern Ituri therefore needs to be read alongside a nearly decade-long record of Islamic State (IS), and especially Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), targeting Chinese nationals, projects, and symbols as part of a broader propaganda and operational strategy that casts China as both an oppressor of Muslims in Xinjiang and an exploitative power across conflict-affected regions. Furthermore, it marks the second IS attack against Chinese interests in less than two months — the other being a suicide bombing in Kabul in mid January.
For this latest attack, soldiers from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which had pledged allegiance to ISCAP, mounted the assault in Ituri. Targets included installations linked to the Chinese Kimia or Kimiya Mining Enterprise and MCC Resources, which operate industrial gold sites in the area. The attackers first struck Congolese army positions guarding the perimeter, then overran the mine itself, according to official statements and subsequent reporting. Islamic State propaganda released soon after claimed responsibility and circulated photographs showing fighters attacking the barracks, entering the Chinese-run site, torching vehicles and heavy equipment, and burning workers’ living quarters and camp structures. Images and local reports described extensive destruction: trucks, tractors, processing infrastructure, accommodation blocks burnt, and with the Muchacha site left heavily damaged.
