Suspected rebel attacks kill 12 civilians in DR Congo

Suspected rebels have killed twelve civilians in recent attacks in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials said on Thursday.

The head doctor of a hospital in Oicha in North Kivu province said that he had received five bodies on Wednesday from a village that lies to the west of the town.

Another seven bodies arrived from another village to the west of Oicha on Thursday, head doctor Jerome Munyambete told AFP.

"These people were killed by machetes and bullets," he said.

Darius Kasereka, a civil society representative in Oicha, confirmed the death toll and said in a statement that the twelve civilians had been "brutally slaughtered".

The area surrounding Oicha has been "invaded by ADF rebels," he added, referring to the Allied Democratic Forces group.

The ADF is among the most violent of the more than 120 militias that roam the DRC's troubled east.

The group - which the Islamic State group claims as its central African branch - has been accused of massacring Congolese civilians as well as staging attacks in neighbouring Uganda.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi placed North Kivu and neighbouring Ituri province under the administration of security forces last year in a bid to stem the violence.

But the measure has failed to stop attacks against civilians.