At Least 20 Killed in New DR Congo Massacre (Photo)

At least 20 people were killed in a new massacre in DR Congo's eastern province of Ituri, a respected monitor revealed on Monday.

The Kivu Security Tracker (KST), which monitors violence in the region via a team of experts on the ground, stated that the attack took place overnight in the village of Bwanasura in Irumu territory.

David Beiza, head of the Red Cross in Irumu, said volunteers from his organisation "have counted 36 bodies" at the site of the massacre.

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Beiza said: "ADF rebels arrived around eight pm. They moved calmly. Fortunately, many residents were able to flee."

In the same vein, Dieudonne Malangay, a civil society leader in the district of Walese Vonkutu, noted that the army was "late" in responding. "Bullets are still flying" in the area, he said.

KST claimed that the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) was suspected to have been behind the killing.

The ADF has been blamed for massacres, kidnappings and looting dating back to 2013, with a toll in lives estimated in the thousands.

Last week, at least 27 civilians were killed by members of a notorious rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the army and Red Cross.

The KST reported that at least 27 civilians were killed in attack by the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

“We heard bullets at dawn in the village of Beu Manyama,” army spokesperson Anthony Mualushayi told Agence France-Presse. “When we arrived, it was already too late because the enemy ADF had already killed more than a dozen of our fellow citizens with machetes.”