Rebels kill 11, abduct 15 in DR Congo

UN peacekeeping mission involved in exchange of fire with suspected rebels near Beni

BENI (DR CONGO): Rebels killed at least 11 people and abducted 15 others, including 10 children, in an overnight raid near Beni, near DR Congo's eastern border with Uganda, security sources said Sunday.

Police recovered the bodies of 11 civilians killed in the town of Matete north of Beni, he said, adding that the missing children were from five to 10 years old, Beni police chief Colonel Safari Kazingufu told AFP.

The attack, thought to have been carried out by members of the Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), had targeted Beni, the regional army spokesperson Captain Mak Hazukay told AFP.

"We repulsed the attack but unfortunately, there were deaths among the civilians and soldiers," he said, without specifying how many soldiers had been killed.

One local resident told AFP he had seen the bodies of two uniformed men at the site of the fighting.

Earlier, a spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO told AFP they had been involved in an exchange of fire with suspected rebels near Beni.