Democratic Republic of Congo massacre death toll rises to 27

A notorious militia killed a total of 27 people in a massacre in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday, police said, updating the death toll.

The victims were hacked to death with machetes in Oicha, about 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the city of Beni, according to a local official.

The police tweeted on Thursday that there were "27 bodies in the morgue" at Oicha, taking to 107 the number of people killed in and around Beni since November 5.

The vast majority of the killings have been carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia that has plagued eastern Congo since the 1990s.

The massacres have sparked protests against the local United Nations peacekeeping mission, known by its French acronym MONUSCO. Residents are blaming the UN for its failure to prevent these massacres.

On Thursday, the envoys of Britain, Canada, Switzerland and the United States, wrote a joint letter condemning the attacks against MONUSCO.

The envoys expressed "full backing for the UN Secretary General's Special Representative in these difficult times".

"The armed groups operating in this region must be dismantled," they said.

The European Union's representative meanwhile gave full support to the Congolese army and UN troops in its fight against the ADF.

Civil activists have accused the UN peacekeepers of killing at least one protester during the demonstrations against the global body.