At least seven people including a soldier were killed in an attack in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group, several sources said Wednesday.

"Five civilians and two FARDC soldiers (from the DRC armed forces) were killed yesterday… during an attack attributed to the ADF," on the Mbau-Kamango road in the Beni region of North Kivu province, the Kivu Security Tracker (KST) expert group posted on Twitter.

"A FARDC captain was among the victims," the KST added.

Beni regional administrator Donat Kibwana confirmed the same toll to AFP, although regional army spokesman Antony Mualushayi said "seven civilians and one soldier" had been killed.

Currently under repair by Congolese military engineers, the Mbau-Kamango road is a busy supply route across the highly unstable region.

Dozens of armed groups of varying size have been active across the eastern DRC for almost 30 years.

The ADF outfit believed behind Tuesday's attack is a made up of Ugandan Muslim rebels who have been in the country since the 1990s.

Since 2014, the ADF has increasingly attacked civilians, inflicting more than 1,000 deaths despite regular army operations attempting to stamp them out since the end of last year.

DR Congo's Virunga park condemns 'illegal' land sales
Goma, Dr Congo (AFP) Aug 19, 2020 –

A world-famous gorilla reserve in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo denounced on Wednesday the "illegal sale" of land within its territory.

Land in at least four areas of the Virunga National Park have been sold off, according to the reserve's director.

"The perpetrators falsely claim that the Congolese justice system has given them the land even though the current law prohibits all such practices," said Emmanuel de Merode in a statement put out by the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN), which oversees the park.

The ICCN said the 78,000-hectare (193,000-acre) reserve remained a protected area and called on the population to be "extremely vigilant" in the face of scams by illegal sellers.

The Virunga National Park — a sanctuary for mountain gorillas and many other protected species — is the oldest nature reserve in Africa, dating back to 1925.

But dozens of armed groups are engaged in all kinds of criminal activity on the park's territory, on the border with Rwanda and Uganda.

In April, an attack by gunmen left 12 rangers and six other people dead.