At least 7 civilians killed in eastern DR Congo

Goma - At least seven civilians were killed in a
weekend attack by Ugandan rebels in the restive
east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a
regional official told AFP on Sunday.

But a local NGO put the toll at nine dead, saying
most of them had been killed with machetes.
Officials said the attack took place on Saturday near
Mbau in the northern sector of the troubled North
Kivu province in an area where there were no
government troops.
"Last night we found three bodies and today four
more, which makes seven dead," Amisi Kalonda, a
top official in the regional capital of Beni, told AFP.
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The violence took place in an area from which many
people had been evacuated because of the threat
from the Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces (ADF),
he said.
The ADF has been accused of killing more than 400
villagers over the last 10 months, most of whom
were slaughtered with machetes and farm
implements.
In a statement issued late on Sunday, the Beni-
based Study Centre for the Promotion of Peace,
Democracy and Human Rights said a total of nine
people had been killed.
Most of them had been killed with machetes, and
either had their throats slit or had been
decapitated, it said.
Officials could not immediately confirm the higher
toll.
The mostly Muslim rebels, who are said to number
around 400, have been active in the region since
being driven out of their homeland in 1995.
- AFP