Over 30 People Killed in DRC -Congo in a Series of Attacks.

According to David Beiza, head of the Red Cross in Ituri's Irumu area, rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), one of the most prominent armed organizations, "attacked the inhabitants" in two villages around Komanda, 75 kilometers (45 miles) south of province capital Bunia.

In addition to bombing the villages of Mangusu and Shauri Moya, where 17 residents were killed, the attackers also struck a bridge across the Ituri River, killing four more people, according to Beiza.

"At least 18 civilians were slain in Mangusu village... on Monday," the Kivu Security Tracker (KST) reported later on Twitter, adding that "the ADF are suspected."

The monitoring group did not provide a statistic for the death toll in Shauri Moya community.

"Since yesterday, we have heard light and heavy gunfire coming from Mangusu and Shauri Moya," A local civil society leader said.

The rebels reportedly entered Shauri Moya on Sunday and Mangusu on Monday morning, according to the local civil society leader.

"There, the bodies of some of the 17 victims were tied up, others had their throats slit and others had been shot dead," He added.

On Monday afternoon, he added, fighting between the ADF and the FARDC (DRC armed forces) was still going on.

The ADF rebels, who are described by the Islamic State as its central African affiliate, have used machetes and other bladed weapons to inflict terrible cruelty on civilians.

The villages targeted are only 12 kilometers from Drakpa town, where 14 civilians, including seven children, were slain days earlier in a displaced persons' camp.

The provinces of Ituri and North Kivu are currently under an official state of siege, which was announced in May.

Civilian officials have been replaced by military or police officers as part of it, with the stated goal of bolstering the fight against armed organizations. Until yet, the measure has not succeeded in bringing peace to the region.

Following bomb assaults in the Ugandan capital Kampala that were claimed on the ADF, Ugandan forces joined the DR Congo's army in an operation against the group in late November.

Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde of the Democratic Republic of Congo is leading a ministerial team to the two provinces, which began on Monday in the capital of North Kivu, Goma, to assess the situation.