At least 21 civilians in eastern DR Congo have been massacred by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia blamed for hundreds of killings in the past year, UN sources and local officials said Tuesday.

A source with the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO, giving a provisional toll, said 21 people had been "savagely" killed in the Rwenzori area, while Donat Kibwana, administrator of the territory of Beni, said "22 persons... 10 of them women" had died.

The slaughter is the region's second mass killing in a week. Twenty-five civilians were killed on New Year's Eve at the village of Tingwe, Kibwana told AFP on January 1.

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