KIGALI, Rwanda

At least 30 Congolese soldiers were killed and 70 others seriously wounded last week during fierce fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo with Ugandan rebel group the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), the army said Sunday.

“The fighting took place Thursday in North Kivu province, where the army captured the ADF's headquarters during the battle at Madina [in the Beni region],” local media reported, quoting Major Mak Hazukay, the spokesman for the operation.

“Forty rebels were killed, including five of their leaders,” Hazukay said, adding government soldiers also lost several weapons to the rebels.

DR Congo forces launched operations against armed groups in the eastern part of the country at the end of last October.

The army in November killed one of the top leaders of the ADF, Mouhamed Mukubwa, during fighting in Mapobu forest in Beni.

Local authorities and civil society groups say the ADF has killed more than a 1,000 people in the Beni region since 2014.

Authorities said the rebels killed roughly 150 civilians between last November and December, triggering angry protests in Beni and neighboring towns, where residents stormed UN facilities in the northeastern border city of Beni.

The protestors accused UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO and government forces of failing to protect civilians following numerous massacres by rebels.