Reports say at least 18 people died and 14 people are missing after ADF rebels attacked eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The two attacks occurred on Saturday in the Beni territory in the troubled North Kivu province.
The toll of those killed “has been revised from 10 to 18 people”, Kinos Katuo, a civil society leader of the area where the attacks took place, told AFP.
He said four houses and two motorcycles were razed down and 14 people were declared missing. Another local leader, Charles Andukado, said over 18 people were killed.
“No one can go to recover the bodies that are still lying on the ground,” he said.
The ADF, originally a group of rebels from Uganda, has been present in eastern DRC for the past thirty years and has been responsible for the deaths of many civilians.
In 2019, the group declared its loyalty to the Islamic State group, which recognises them as its branch in central Africa.
The ADF was also held responsible for an assault that resulted in the deaths of 20 people at the end of July.
According to local authorities in Beni, in mid-June, 150 individuals were reported to have been killed in ADF-related attacks in eastern DRC from the beginning of that month.
Since the conclusion of 2021, joint military campaigns against the ADF in North Kivu and the neighbouring province of Ituri have been carried out by the Congolese and Ugandan armies. However, these efforts have not successfully curbed the deadly assaults on civilians.