The death toll has risen to 41 following an attack on Friday by rebels on villages in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, a Congolese army spokesman said.
The attack had been carried out by members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), said lieutenant-colonel Mak Hazukay, an army spokesman in Congo's North Kivu province, on Sunday.
The ADF, which is now based in eastern Congo, has mounted frequent attacks, further destabilising a region where many militant groups are active.
It originates from neighbouring Uganda and is alleged to be behind another assault that killed at least 16 people this week.
Overnight attacks
Armed men had used guns and machetes to attack residents of villages in Beni territory overnight on Friday, local official Fabien Kakule told Reuters.
Vusindi Nick Junior, a local civil society leader, said a local health centre had been set ablaze and nine people injured in addition to the 41 killed.
"Several dozen civilians have been victims of the ADF in eastern DRC in recent days. Terrorist groups are taking advantage of the chaos to expand their hold on an already very unstable region," said EU foreign affairs spokeswoman Nabila Massrali.
Julien Paluku, a former governor of North Kivu, said on X that Congo's national government needed to do more to address insecurity in the east.
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