Forty die in suspected DR Congo rebel attacks

The ADF is among the most violent of the dozens of armed groups active in eastern Congo and has been accused of a string of bomb attacks and civilian massacres.

Suspected Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militants have killed over 40 people in twin attacks in eastern DR Congo, local officials said Thursday, in the latest bloodshed across the turbulent region.

The ADF, which the Islamic State group claims as its central African affiliate, is one of the deadliest armed militias in eastern Congo, accused of slaughtering thousands of civilians.

Fighters from the group attacked the neighbouring villages of Mukondi and Mausa, in the Beni territory of North Kivu province, during Wednesday evening and the early hours of Thursday, officials said.

"It's total desolation," said Kalunga Meso, a local administrator. "They rounded up people and then executed them".

He told AFP that 38 people had been killed in Mukondi and eight in Mausa, stressing the death toll was provisional.

Mumbere Arsene, a local civil-society figure, said 37 people had been killed in Mukondi and eight in Mausa.

"All the dead people were killed with knives," he said.