DRC village in shock as 'ADF militants' kill 16 and abduct 20

At least 16 villagers have been killed and 20 others abducted in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during attacks by militants of Allied Democratic Forces or ADF, a local civil society group said.

The assailants staged a series of attacks on locals, some while working on their farmlands, between Wednesday and Friday in Ituri province's Mambasa territory, said John Vulverio, coordinator of the New Civil Society of Congo on Friday.

“The (death) toll remains provisional, as the fate of 20 others kidnapped remains unknown,” he said.

Among those kidnapped in the attacks were the mother and sister of Gilbert Sivamwenda, a local government official, local media quoted the legislator as saying.

Dozens of villages across DRC are besieged by armed groups made up of either local rebels fighting for power and valuable mineral resources or militants with extremist ideologies.

The ADF have carried out growing attacks in the region and sometimes across the border with neighboring Uganda where it was originally formed.

The violence across the central African nation has resulted in one of the world's biggest humanitarian crises, with more than seven million people displaced, many beyond the reach of aid.

The 15,000-member UN peacekeeping mission in DRC that helped in the fight against rebels for more than two decades was asked by the Kinshasa government to leave over its failure to end the conflict.

The withdrawal is to be completed by the end of 2024.