Fourteen civilians, including seven children, were killed in a camp for displaced people in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the local Red Cross said Sunday.

Seven adults and seven children, including a two-year-old, were all killed in the machete attack Saturday in the Ituri region, according to a Red Cross list seen by AFP.

Jean D'Zba Banju, a community leader in the Djugu area of Ituri, said CODECO militiamen entered Drakpa where they killed 12 people with machetes.

"CODECO militiamen entered Drakpa and started to cut people with machetes. They did not fire shots in order to operate calmly," Banju told AFP.

"The victims are displaced people who had fled Ngotshi village to set up in Drakpa," he said, adding that five other people were wounded.

CODECO is a political-religious sect that claims to represent the interests of the Lendu ethnic group. (AFP via VOA)

•PHOTO:(FILES) In this aerial file photo taken on December 21, 2021 shows the Rhoo IDP camp, 60 kilometers from Bunia, the provincial capital of Ituri in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo. – Fourteen displaced people, including seven children, were killed on Saturday in an attack on a refugee camp in Ituri in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the local Red Cross learned on March 20, 2022. (Photo by ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP)

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