A local official and hospital worker reported on Wednesday that suspected islamist rebels had killed at least seventeen people during an attack on civilians who were working in the fields in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The attack was on residents of Oicha, in the province of North Kivu of Congo. This mineral-rich region has suffered from militia violence that is a legacy of a civil conflict that ended around the turn of this century.

Around 20 km (12.43 mile) west of town, the victims were tending to crops.

Oicha mayor Nicolas Kikuku has blamed the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamic State-linked organization originally from Uganda and now in eastern Congo that frequently attacks civilians.

Kikuku reported that 17 bodies were transported on motorbikes to the morgue at Oicha General Hospital by Wednesday evening.

Kakule Sekera said that 19 bodies, including 2 women, had been delivered to the morgue so far. Some of the bodies had their heads cut off.

Sekera stated that the victims had been decapitated using machetes.

Patrick Kakule Mukohe said that so far he has counted 17 corpses at the morgue, but he knows of 31 total victims.

"We believe the other bodies will arrive later," he stated. (Reporting and Yassin Kombi Writing by Sofia Christensen, Editing by Sandra Maler.)