MILITIA fighters killed at least 55 civilians in an attack on a cluster of villages in north-east DR Congo, local authorities said today.

Armed men from the Co-operative for the Development of Congo (Codeco) militia attacked the Djaiba group of villages, which is also home to a camp for the displaced, in the province of Ituri Monday night, Antoinnette Nzale, the leader of the camp, told reporters. 

She said 55 civilians died but added that the death toll is likely higher, as bodies continue to be retrieved from the burned down houses.

Codeco attacks have killed nearly 1,800 people and wounded more than 500 in the four years through 2022, according to the African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism.

“Almost the entire village was attacked,” Ms Nzale said, adding that the UN peacekeeping force and Congolese government troops intervened but were overwhelmed by the more numerous attackers.

More than 120 armed groups are fighting in the north-eastern region, most for land and control of mines with valuable minerals, while some are trying to protect their communities.

Meanwhile, the trial of 84 Congolese soldiers accused of murder, rape and other crimes in the country's conflict-battered east opened in a military court in Bukavu, the provincial capital of South Kivu on Monday.

The soldiers are accused of having broken into civilian homes in several villages of the Kabare and Kalehe territories in the eastern province of South Kivu over the weekend. 

The trial comes as Rwanda-backed M23 militia have been making significant gains in South Kivu in recent weeks after having captured the key city of Goma in the neighbouring North Kivu province.