GOMA, DR Congo, Aug 19, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Rebel fighters have killed at least 52 civilians in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo in recent days, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country said on Monday.

Attacks from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) targeted several villages in the North Kivu province between August 9 and 16, the mission, called MONUSCO, said, warning that the toll could go up.

"The violence was accompanied by kidnappings, looting, the burning of houses, vehicles, and motorcycles, as well as the destruction of property belonging to populations already facing a precarious humanitarian situation," MONUSCO said.

The ADF, an armed group originally formed by former Ugandan rebels, has killed thousands of civilians and increased looting and killings in northeastern DRC, despite the deployment of the Ugandan army alongside the Congolese armed forces.

Among the 52 victims so far this month, at least nine were killed overnight from Saturday to Sunday in an attack on the town of Oicha, in North Kivu, AFP learned from security and local sources.

A few days earlier, the ADF had already killed at least 40 people in several towns in the Bapere sector, also in North Kivu province, according to local and security sources.

Samuel Kagheni Kakule, president of the Bapere sector civil society, contacted by telephone, reported "houses burned and people taken away" by the assailants during these attacks.

At the end of 2021, Kampala and Kinshasa launched a joint military operation against the ADF, dubbed "Shujaa," so far without succeeding in putting an end to their attacks.