Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels have killed 13 people and torched a clinic in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials said Friday.

Iran PressAfrica: Kasereka Ise Mighambo, the mayor of Lume in North Kivu province, said  ADF fighters entered the town Thursday night and burned down a health clinic, killing four patients inside.

He added that the militants killed nine more civilians before retreating into Virunga National Park, a world-renowned wildlife haven in Congo’s conflict-torn east.

Local nurse Kule Bwengue also said health authorities had registered 13 deaths in the attack.

At the health center in Lume, in the territory of Beni (North Kivu), four patients were burnt to death during the "incursion of the ADF enemies" who "set fire to the health structure", Kasereka Ise Mighambo, mayor of the Lume commune, told AFP.

Claimed by the Islamic State group as its Central African offshoot, the ADF has been accused of massacring Congolese civilians and carrying out terrorist attacks in neighboring Uganda.

The DRC and Uganda launched a joint offensive against the ADF in November 2021 to crush the rebels, but violence against civilians continues. 219

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