According to local sources, suspected militants from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) killed over 40 people in two attacks in the eastern DR Congo on Thursday. It is the latest bloodshed in the unrest-stricken area.
The ADF, one of the deadliest armed factions in eastern Congo, is accused of massacring thousands of civilians and is identified by the Islamic State group as its affiliate in central Africa.
In the Beni district of North Kivu province, fighters from the organization reportedly attacked the neighbouring communities of Mukondi and Mausa on Wednesday night and early Thursday.
The administrator in the area Kalunga Meso described the area as "very desolate". They were rounded up and put to death.
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He told AFP that the death toll was tentative and that there had been 38 fatalities in Mukondi and eight in Mausa.
Thirty-seven people had died in Mukondi, according to local civil society leader Mumbere Arsene, and eight were assassinated in Mausa.
He claimed that knives were used to kill everyone who perished.
On Thursday, a reputable violence monitor known as Kivu Security Tracker (KST) said armed men had used machetes to kill at least 30 persons in Mukondi.
AFP was unable to confirm the death toll independently.
The ADF, one of the many dangerous armed organizations operating in eastern Congo, has been charged with several bombings and massacres of civilians.
Although there have been ongoing attacks, a joint Congolese-Ugandanese military campaign has been going on since late 2021 to target the militia in eastern DRC.
The US offered a reward of up to $5 million last week for information regarding Seka Musa Baluku, the ADF's leader.
A mission from the UN Security Council is scheduled to arrive in the DRC on Thursday, which coincides with the most recent ADF attack.
According to the official itinerary, the envoys are scheduled to travel to North Kivu during their three-day trip to assess the security and humanitarian crises.
The province, which additionally experiences ADF incursions in its north and is plagued by M23 rebels, has seen hundreds of thousands of people displaced within its borders.
Since re-emerging from hibernation in late 2021, the Tutsi-led M23 militia has amassed vast tracts of land and has recently made progress against Congolese forces.
Goma, a regional commercial hub with Rwanda to its east and Lake Kivu to its south, is in danger of having all road access shut off by an M23 advance.
According to the United States, several other western nations, and impartial UN experts, Rwanda supports the M23, as the DRC claims.
Kigali disputes the accusation.
Eastern DRC is home to dozens of armed organizations, many of which result from local conflicts that erupted in the 1990s and early 2000s.
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