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Militants linked to the Islamic State killed at least 33 people in an overnight raid on villages in eastern the Democratic Republic of Congo, burning down a health post and sending Ebola patients, including a confirmed case, fleeing a nearby hospital.

Getting into it: Fighters from the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamic State affiliate, attacked Cantine, about 30 miles west of the city of Beni in North Kivu province, around 11pm Thursday, local officials said. Most of the dead had gunshot wounds, and the rest were burned or cut down with machetes. According to reports on the ground, about 60 homes and businesses were set on fire as the attackers retreated into the forest.

Officials said the death toll could still rise, with heavy rain slowing the army’s search. About 180 patients fled the Kelekele Hospital Centre, including one confirmed Ebola case, several suspected cases and high-risk contacts, raising fears the virus could spread further. Nearly half of Congo’s new Ebola infections are coming out of North Kivu, in an outbreak that’s the fastest-spreading on record and has now topped 10,000 cases and 5,000 deaths nationwide.

The ADF started in Uganda, swore loyalty to the Islamic State in 2019 and has spent years targeting civilians in the region. Congo and Uganda have fought the group together since 2021. The attack came shortly after James Swan, who runs the UN’s peacekeeping force in Congo, sat down with North Kivu leaders to discuss the region’s security.

This all comes as roughly 100 armed groups fight across eastern Congo, the biggest being M23, a Rwanda-backed rebel force that has taken over major cities in the east as the outbreak grows.