Six people were on Saturday killed in a suspected Allied Democratic Forces -ADF rebels attack in the villages of Tandika and Maliki in Beni-Mbau sector of Beni territory North Kivu province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to locals, the rebels emerged while armed with guns and machetes and started killing people.
Georges Kivaya, president of the Beni-Mbau sector says that the rebels shot randomly at people while hacking others. In the process, six people died on the spot and they include two women.
Kivaya also says that other unspecified numbers of locals were kidnapped by the rebels. He suspects that these could be the same rebels who carried out another attack in Mukoko on National Road 4 on Friday night and killed three people.
He also says that the attack has raised fear among locals with the suspicion that the rebels will return anytime and calls for government security deployment in the area.
Colonel Charles Ehuta Omeonga, the military administrator of Beni confirmed the attack but argued that the situation is under control.
On Wednesday night last week, ADF rebels also attacked the town of Nobili in the east of Beni territory on the border with Uganda and killed five people, according to David Muwaze, member of civil society and coordinator of Action for the Defense of Human Rights (ADDH) in the area.
The rebels also attacked neighboring Kamango and Njapande areas and killed dozens. The attack forced locals to flee to Uganda through Bundibugyo District.
The presence of Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo -FARDC and Uganda Peoples Defense Forces -UPDF soldiers in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and the arrest of some ADF leaders have not stopped the rebels from continuously carrying out surprise attacks.