A wave of attacks on villages in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo attributed to Daesh-affiliated ADF militants have killed at least 15 people.
According to international media reports, the Sunday's killings come a week after a similar attack left at least 23 people dead.
"There were simultaneous attacks this Sunday between 4:00 and 5:00 am on three villages" said local official Dieudonne Malangai.
"In Manyala village we found seven bodies at Ofay, there were eight dead, including seven women," Malangai told reporters, and indicated that the final toll might be higher.
"These ADF rebels also attacked Bandibese village but ran into resistance from soldiers who intervened and so there were no civilian deaths," Malangai said after the raids on three villages in Ituri province bordering Rwanda. "We are tired of giving the death toll day after day," he added.
ADF fighters were also blamed for last week's raids in the neighbouring province of North Kivu cost at least 23 lives while in the same province at least 14 people were killed in a bomb blast at a pentecostal church.
In an attempt to stem the violence the government in May 2021 declared a state of alert in North Kivu and Ituri, replacing civil administrators with police and troops.
