A man walks past smoke rising from a fire at the independent national electoral commission's (CENI) warehouse on Thursday in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 10 days ahead of presidential elections. Photo: AFP

Women and children were among at least 27 civilians murdered in two separate attacks in the troubled northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, local officials told AFP on Sunday.

The first incident, in the Ituri province, is believed to have been carried out by a notorious regional militia overnight from Saturday to Sunday. The second took place close to Beni.

"We have 20 people killed for now and 17 wounded, some of them admitted to hospital," Adel Alingi, a Djugu territory administrator, told AFP. 

Another local official said 22 people were killed.

Pilo Mulindro, a tribal chief, told AFP that "the victims are of all ages, children, youths, women and old men, killed by machete, by knife or by firearm."

Local authorities blamed the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO) for the massacre, one of dozens of armed groups spread across the conflict-wracked country.

CODECO is accused of the murder of hundreds of civilians in 2020 alone.

Its members are mainly drawn from the Lendu ethnic group, who are predominantly farmers, and clash repeatedly with the Hema community of traders and herders in Ituri - a region rich in gold and oil.

On Sunday, the attack apparently came from a Lendu area whereas the victims were ethnic Hema, a local source said in a statement.

In the Djugu territory, villages from both groups are interspersed and military spokesmen Jules Ngongo told AFP: "No army in the world can be everywhere in a zone like Djugu."

AFP