Locals blamed the attack on the Allied Democratic Forces militia, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2019.

At least eight civilians were killed on Thursday during an attack on a health centre in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern North Kivu province, media reports said citing local sources.

Locals blamed the attack on the Allied Democratic Forces militia, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2019.

The group arrived from Ituri province to Mantumbi on Wednesday, Beni territory civil society leader Omar Kalisia told reporters.

“For now we have a toll of eight dead, including the sick and the accountant at the health centre,” Kalisia said, adding that one nurse was missing and a house had also been set on fire.

A Beni area chief, Leon Siviwe, said 10 people were killed in the attack, including a nurse. He also attributed the killings to ADF rebels and said a Ugandan army “position” was very close.

In late 2021, the DRC and neighbouring Uganda launched a joint military operation against the ADF. The operation, so far, has not been successful.

The ADF, which is originally made up of mainly Muslim Ugandan rebels, have established a presence over the three decades in eastern Congo, killing thousands of civilians.

They have pledged to the Islamic State, which portrays them as its central African incarnation. The group is also accused of recent attacks on Ugandan soil.

Thursday’s attack on the North Kivu health centre follows a May 3 attack on a camp for displaced people in the same province, and also a May 7 bombing in a village in neighbouring South Kivu province.

Social Affairs Minister Modeste Mutinga Mutushayi said Thursday in the city of Goma that the toll from the attack on the camp for displaced people had risen to 35 people, with an additional 37 other people injured. The initial death toll was estimated to be nine people killed.

Mutushayi visited Goma with a delegation from the capital Kinshasa to investigate the attack.

The United States blamed the assault on nearby Rwanda and the M23 rebel group, which the US government says has ties to the Rwandan government.

The Rwandan government has rejected those accusations.

The May 7 bombing in the province of South Kivu left seven people dead and injured six others, an attack authorities also blamed on M23 rebels.

The rebel group M23, which is mainly led by Tutsis, recommenced its armed campaign in the DRC in 2021 and has taken control of large swathes of territory since then.