Security analysts and a local community leader said at least 46 people were killed in a militia attack on a displaced people's camp in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Monday.

According to Richard Dheda, an officer of the local administration for Bahema Badjere in the Djugu region, a militia organization involved in several ethnic massacres raided the camp in northeastern Ituri province overnight from Sunday to Monday.

PHOTO | COURTESY residents fleeing

The Kivu Security Tracker (KST), a network of observers operating in the restive east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, reported "at least 46" killed in the Lala camp.

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Desire Malodra, a neighbourhood leader, provided the same death toll of 46, adding that 23 were children.

He said the toll was still tentative because they are searching for more victims. The CODECO militia, or Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, claims to protect the Lendu village from the Hema and DR Congo army.

"They started firing shots, and many people were burned to death in their homes, while others were killed with machetes," Malhotra explained.

PHOTO | COURTESY child standing next to a UN vehicle
The displaced people's Lala camp is five kilometres from Bule, a UN peacekeeping base.

Ituri province is one of the most violent areas in eastern DR Congo, with attacks killing dozens of people regularly.

CODECO militiamen attacked an army position late Saturday in the Djukoth district of Ituri province's Mahagi territory, killing seven civilians.

After a decade of peace, the violence between the Hema and Lendu communities erupted in 2017, resulting in thousands of fatalities and displacing almost 1.5 million people.

Many armed groups afflict much of eastern DR Congo, a legacy of regional battles that erupted in the 1990s and 2000s.