Ugandan rebels kill 16 in DR Congo

At least 16 people have been killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in what appears to be a new spate of massacres by Ugandan rebels.

Late Monday, the rebels attacked civilians in Musuku village, some 28 kilometers from the town of Beni, and used knives, machetes, axes and guns to kill people.

The killings raised the death toll to 52 over the past four days. The rebels massacred 36 people in northern parts of the country on Saturday. Officials said the number could jump higher if the attackers kill more civilians.

Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) of Uganda, suspected by the United Nations for having connections to the Somalia’s al-Shabab, have killed more than 250 people in Beni since October.

The ADF started operating in western Uganda in the 1990s, but was overpowered by the Ugandan army in 2004. Remaining members of the group later fled to the eastern parts of the neighboring Congo where they formed an alliance with a new rebel group called the National Army for Liberation of Uganda (NALU).