Up to 43 people have been killed in an attack on a church and homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo carried out by a group linked to Islamic State.
Fighters for the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) gunned down around 20 worshippers participating in a night vigil, according to local officials in Komanda, a town in the north-east of the country.
They also looted and set fire to various nearby shops and businesses and razed several homes to the ground, the BBC reports.
Dieudonne Duranthabo, a civil society coordinator in the town, suggested that more bodies could yet be found following the merciless attack.
He said: 'More than 21 people were shot dead inside and outside [the church] and we have recorded at least three charred bodies and several houses burned.
'But the search is continuing,' he added.
Local priest Aime Lokana Dhego, meanwhile, said: 'We have at least 31 dead members of the Eucharistic Crusade movement, with six seriously injured.
'Some young people were kidnapped, we have no news of them.'
The priest added that a further seven bodies had been discovered elsewhere in the town.
The UN-sponsored website Radio Okapi calculated that 43 had died in the slaughter, but an army spokesperson said he could only confirm 10 deaths.
Komanda has been highly coveted by a range of armed groups over the years as it is located in the country's mineral-rich Ituri province.
The ADF first rose to prominence in neighbouring Uganda in the 1990s, where they accused the government of persecuting Muslims.
The group has since moved across the border where its fighters often murder people of all religions, while also continuing similar operations in Uganda.
It has become incorporated into IS's Central African Province, which also features a group in Mozambique to the east.
Almost 90 per cent of Islamic State's operations are now executed by affiliated bodies in Africa, according to BBC Monitoring research.
In a bid to stem such attacks, the Democratic Republic of Congo let Ugandan soldiers into the country in 2021, but it did little to reduce the killing.
In a bid to stem attacks, the DR Congo let Ugandan soldiers into the country in 2021, but it did little to reduce the killing (pictured: a Ugandan troop in Beni, DR Congo)
That year, at least 22 people were killed - 13 of whom were beheaded - by ADF members in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
They attacked villagers near the town of Beni, around 80 miles from Komanda in the country's northeast.
An unspecified number of women and children were among the dead, officials said at the time, adding that bodies are still being recovered from the surrounding jungle.
Several more villagers were believed to have been kidnapped, but the exact number of missing was unclear.
A four-month-old baby was found alive on the back of one of the victims and was thought to have been orphaned, along with their six brothers and sisters.
Attacks have continued in the area in the intervening period, with the ADF often exchanging fire with the country's armed forces.