An overnight attack by suspected Ugandan rebels in the area of Beni in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has left at least 30 people dead, authorities have said.

The attack, which left five more people in a critical condition, took place overnight into Sunday in the village of Oicha in North Kivu province.

More than 200 people have been killed in Beni and the surrounding area in a series of massacres that have been blamed on the Allied Democratic Forces and National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU).

Town chief Jean-Baptiste Kamabu, reached by telephone from the North Kivu capital Goma, said the assailants wielded machetes and axes.

He said two people were wounded and another two were abducted, the AFP news agency reported.

Celestin Ngeleka, spokesman of a military operation against armed groups in the region, confirmed the death toll of 14, which he said could rise.

Soldiers are still searching the area and could "find other cadavers", he told AFP.
(Al Jazeera)