27 civilians killed in eastern DRC region

The army and Red Cross said at least 27 civilians were killed by members of a notorious rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

According to Kivu Security Tracker KST, which monitors violence in the region via a team of experts on the ground, at least 27 civilians were killed in Saturday's attack by the rebel Allied Democratic Forces ADF We heard bullets at dawn in the village of Beu Manyama, army spokesperson Anthony Mualushayi told Agence France-Presse earlier on Saturday. When we arrived, it was already too late because the enemy ADF had already killed more than a dozen of our fellow citizens with machetes. The ADF, referred to as the Islamic State's local affiliate, has been accused of killing thousands of civilians in DRC's troubled east.

After the attack early on Saturday in the Beni region in North Kivu province, soldiers pursued the attackers and neutralised seven ADF and captured another, Mualushayi said.

On Saturday, local Red Cross head Philippe Bonane had put the civilian death toll at 24 and was overseeing the transfer of bodies to the morgue.

The massacre comes after a month of relative calm in Beni, where the Congolese and Ugandan armies have been conducting joint military operations against the ADF since late November.

On Friday, another Red Cross representative said that 17 decapitated bodies were found in the neighbouring province of Ituri, believed to be victims of the ADF.

More than 120 armed groups are in eastern DRC and civilian massacres are common.

Both Ituri and North Kivu have been under an official state of siege since May last year, and the army and police have replaced senior administrators in a bid to stem attacks by armed groups.

Despite this, authorities haven't stopped the massacres that are regularly carried out on civilians.