At least seven bodies have been found in a town in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where a Uganda-based rebel group has reportedly been active in the past months.

The governor of North Kivu Province confirmed that seven bodies, including those of two women, were found in the town of Matembo, a few kilometers from the city of Beni.

Julien Paluku said, however, that authorities were not yet certain if the killings were committed by members of the Allied Democratic Forces-National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU) rebels.

More than 300 people have been killed by the ADF-NALU militants in and around Beni since October last year.

Last week, at least 21 people were killed in clashes between the army and the ADF-NALU rebels when they attacked an army post in the village of Kokola, about 40 kilometers north of Beni. Sixteen rebels, four soldiers and a civilian were killed in the attack.

The rebel group also killed some 20 people in North Kivu Province in a mid-April assault.

The ADF-NALU rebel group, which was founded in Uganda in 1995 and later moved to the Congo, is believed to have roughly 400 members and has been accused of committing serious human rights violations, including recruiting child soldiers and rape.

ADF-NALU and dozens of other armed groups have been active in the eastern Congo since the 1996-2003 Congo wars.

The Congolese army, joined by UN troops, is on the offensive against the group. The UN Security Council has mandated the armed forces in the country to put down the many armed groups active in the eastern DR Congo, where more than two decades of violence has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.