The army killed 16 Ugandan rebels in North Kivu in the clashes of last Sunday and Monday.

From the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC)  in continuation of their offensive against  the Ugandan rebel group, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) , killed 16 rebels in clashes that  took place in Kokola, some 40 km from Beni in the North Kivu Province, Reuters reported. The fighting that erupted on Sunday, May 3, 2015 was within the ongoing operation Sukola I launched in 2014.

The army spokesman for the operation, Major Victor Masandi said, "The toll from the battle is 16 ADF killed, six AK-47s recovered," Reuters quoted. He further said four Congolese government soldiers were also killed in the fighting.  He  also specified that the clashes entailed “intensive firing with heavy weapons and light arms.” The ADF was formed in the 1990s to fight the Ugandan government but it has transformed into a secretive Islamist group that now operates on the Congolese side of the border, where it is active in the illicit trade in timber and gold, Reuters explained.

Army sources say overnight attacks on civilians blamed on the rebels have declined since the army stepped up operations against the group late last year, though dozens of civilians have still died in 2015 in similar massacres. Government reportedly said last week that its forces had killed the group's third highest ranking commander, Kasada Karume. The ADF's leader, Jamil Mukulu, was also reported arrested in Tanzania last week, but the Ugandan government is said to have told Reuters it was still trying to verify whether Mukulu was in fact in custody.

Major Victor Masandi reportedly said the ADF had been significantly weakened by pressure from the operation. The group, he said, had been reduced to about 50 fighters operating in isolated clusters, well below a recent United Nations estimate of around 500 combatants.

The same Allied Democratic Forces are said to have killed Tanzanian peacekeepers working with the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) in an ambush near the city of Beni. Thirteen other UN peacekeepers were also wounded by the rebels. The attack came shortly after a UN helicopter carrying the mission’s commander came under attack in eastern North Kivu.