Militants associated with ISIL (ISIS) have been accused of killing at least 38 individuals during an overnight assault on a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to local officials and a regional civil society leader.

The assailants, equipped with firearms and machetes, targeted residents of villages in Beni territory, North Kivu province, on Friday night, as stated by local official Fabien Kakule.

District official Leon Kakule Siviwe attributed the recent escalation in violence to the attackers exploiting a weak security presence.

Justin Kavalami, a local civil society leader, held members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) responsible for the attack.

The ADF, also accused of carrying out another village attack earlier this week that resulted in at least 16 deaths, originated in neighboring Uganda. After extending its presence to the eastern DRC, the group pledged allegiance to ISIL in 2018 and has been conducting regular assaults, exacerbating the instability in an area already rife with armed groups.

Local officials reported that the ADF has caused more than 50 deaths in the conflict-stricken region this week.

Since late 2021, the armies of Congo and Uganda have launched joint operations against the ADF in North Kivu and neighboring Ituri, but they have not yet managed to halt the deadly attacks on civilians.

Eastern DRC has experienced decades of violent unrest from various armed factions, with both government and foreign entities supplying arms. The Rwandan-backed M23 (March 23 Movement) resumed its insurgency in the region at the end of 2021, capturing significant territory in North Kivu, causing ongoing intensified conflict and displacing tens of thousands of people.

By the end of the previous year, approximately 6.9 million people had been displaced across the DRC, primarily in the eastern provinces.

Since the rise in hostilities in March 2022, over 1.6 million individuals have been displaced from their homes in North Kivu in the eastern part of the country.