Reports have just come in from a remote region in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo‘s South Kivu province where a militia group raided the village of Kipupu last Thursday.

According to the spokesperson of the Congolese army that reached the scene after the raid, attackers killed villagers and burned down their houses, forcing many to seek refuge in neighbouring villages.

Although no official toll has been released yet, local MPs fear more than 200 people may have been killed.

But UN sources who are looking into the attack believe the death toll could be much smaller.

The region has experienced a series of armed conflicts for decades, with fighting between the cattle breeding banyamulenge community and other local groups who accuse them of being foreigners.

Armed militia claiming to defend both communities regularly clash, often harming unarmed civilians.