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89 people have been killed after a brutal terrorist attack in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The massacre unfolded on Monday night in the village of Nyoto, located in North Kivu province, as residents gathered for a funeral ceremony. According to officials, a group of approximately 10 terrorists stormed the gathering and began slaughtering those in attendance, mostly with machetes. Others were shot or burned alive as the attackers set fire to nearby vehicles. Eyewitnesses described a scene of people being forced to gather in one spot before the militants began hacking them to death.

Local civil society leaders reported that bodies arrived at nearby morgues in disfigured condition, bearing the unmistakable wounds of machete attacks. The final death toll may rise as recovery efforts continue in the remote area.

As of now, officials say the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a notorious extremist group linked to the Islamic State, was behind the attack. The ADF, originally formed in the 1990s in Uganda as a Muslim rebel group, has evolved into one of the most brutal and active militant organizations in the region. After being pushed into the Democratic Republic of Congo, the group pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2017 and was formally recognized by the terror network in 2019 as part of its Central Africa Province. The ADF is known for its gruesome tactics, including machete killings, kidnappings, child recruitment, and the use of improvised explosive devices.

The United Nations has strongly condemned the attack. UN peacekeeping chief Bintou Keita labeled the assault a gross violation of international humanitarian law and stated that such attacks on civilians are “intolerable.” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk added that the ADF has clearly taken advantage of the instability caused by the ongoing conflict with M23, exploiting the lack of military oversight to carry out mass killings.