Goma, Dec 2 (IANS): At least nine people were killed in an incursion involving Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels overnight Sunday in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to military sources reached by Xinhua.

The rebels attacked PK20, a village on the Mbau-Kamango road, in Beni, eastern North Kivu province, the epicenter of hostilities between the military and many armed groups, said the sources, who requested anonymity.

Several villagers were kidnapped and remain missing.

Katuho Kinos, a local civil society leader, said at least 14 people were killed, a toll that is likely to rise as search operations continue.

"There are several houses burned," he told local media outlets. "For now, this is a provisional assessment."

The ADF, founded in the 1990s by several opposition movements in Uganda, was defeated by the Ugandan army, but its members have remained active in the eastern DRC. The ADF declared its affiliation with the Islamic State in 2017.

Since late 2021, the Ugandan and DRC militaries have launched joint operations against ADF rebels in the eastern DRC, Xinhua news agency reported.

The DRC army's fight against the ADF started in 2016, when government troops went deep into the forest of the Beni territory to hunt down ADF rebels, who have also been targeted by a special brigade consisting of Tanzanian, Malawian, and South African peacekeepers.

In 2017, at least 15 Tanzanian peacekeepers were killed in an ADF attack on their base in Beni.