Attacks said to have taken place between rival militia factions have killed 11 people in north-east Democratic Republic of Congo, sources told AFP Wednesday.

The attacks took place on Monday and Tuesday in Ituri province between the Zaire Militia — established in 2019 — and the Codeco.

The Zaire militia claims to be fighting to defend the interests of the Hema ethnic community against the rival Lendu tribe, while Codeco claims to protect the Lendu against the Hema.

Early Monday morning men from the Zaire militia killed a member of the Lendu community, residents in Gina where the attack took place told AFP.

Members of Codeco retaliated by killing 10 people in the small town of Fataki including children, local sources told AFP.

“We buried 10 bodies,” a humanitarian source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The source added that seven of those buried were children – four from one family and three from another.

The victims, “killed with machetes, (were) buried on Wednesday”, Justin Gudza, a local leader, told AFP.

Gina is some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Fataki where there are Congolese army and UN bases.

A Congolese army spokesman condemned the attacks.

“It has been more than two years since Fataki became a very calm environment, activities have resumed, communities live together, socialise”, lieutenant Jules Ngongo told AFP.

At least six other people have been killed in the region by armed men since Sunday, Ruphin Mapela, an administrator of the Djugu territory in the Ituri region, told AFP.

The army will “hunt down all these armed groups that are resistant to the peace process,” Ngongo said.

Inter-communal violence killed thousands in gold-rich Ituri from 1999-2003 until an intervention by European forces restored calm.

The conflict erupted again in 2017, resulting in thousands more deaths and the mass displacement of residents.