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They blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan
militia active in eastern Congo since the 1990s, which has
committed dozens of brutal reprisal attacks on civilians since
the army began operations against it in late 2019.
Men armed with knives and other weapons attacked the village of
Bulongo, around 30 kilometres (18 miles) east of Beni, on Sunday
night, the sources said.
"There are 12 bodies lying on the ground," said Mambo Kitambal,
head of a civil society group in Bulongo.
"We fear that this toll could increase especially since the
enemy operated for several hours. The victims were executed with
pickaxes and machetes," he said.
On Wednesday the United States designated the ADF as a foreign
terrorist organisation, accusing it of links to Islamic State
(ISIS), although U.N. experts have not found evidence of any
direct relationship between the two groups.
The ADF killed about 850 people last year, according to U.N.
figures.
"Here in the rain they savagely killed our brothers and sisters
with knives and pickaxes," said Paul Sakata, a resident of
Bulongo.
"We regret that the army did not respond last night, which
reinforces the fear in the heads of people in this part of the
country, who were beginning to hope for peace."
Congo's eastern borderlands with Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi are
home to around 120 different militias, many of which are
remnants of the country's brutal civil wars that officially
ended in 2003.
(Reporting by Erikas Mwisi Kambale; Writing by Hereward Holland;
Editing by Nellie Peyton and Ed Osmond)
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