REBELS with apparent links to Islamist terrorist group Isis have killed at least 43 people in eastern DR Congo over the weekend in a series of attacks carried out in response to a new military offensive in the area, a rights group said today.

Rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces in some cases went door to door, shooting their victims dead, according to a Congolese human rights group known by its French acronym Cepadho.

The rebels have been trying to pit the civilian population against the army so that people demand the military action be stopped, said Omar Kavotha, president of the rights organisation.