Rwanda-backed M23 rebels executed at least 21 civilians in Congo’s eastern city of Goma over two days in February, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Tuesday.
The report detailed violence on February 22-23 in Goma’s Kasika neighborhood, part of an offensive by M23 that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands in the region.
“Commanders and combatants who directly ordered or carried out abuses should be held criminally accountable,” Human Rights Watch said.
The executions included six men and one woman shot in the head near the Katindo military camp, according to a witness cited by the group. M23 fighters also killed civilians and dumped bodies at a construction site nearby, including a 15-year-old boy taken from his home.
HRW said the violence targeted Kasika, a neighborhood that once housed Congolese army barracks, and continued the next day when rebels rounded up about 20 young men at a sports field, accusing them of being soldiers. Three who tried to flee were shot.
An M23 leader, Bertrand Bisimwa, said the group would investigate the allegations and publish its findings. “HRW gives us an opportunity to mirror ourselves,” he told Reuters. “We respect this organization despite its past accusations which proved to be false.”
HRW believes the death toll in Goma is likely higher, with medical workers saying they collected more than 50 bodies from Kasika over those two days.
Amnesty International and UNICEF have previously documented abuses in eastern Congo. In March, Amnesty said rebels had taken 130 people—including patients and caregivers—from hospitals in Goma, with many tortured and some still missing.
UNICEF reported a surge in rape cases at 42 health centers in eastern Congo in February, calling it the worst sexual violence seen in years. Almost a third of the victims were children, including six sisters as young as 12 who were raped by armed men searching for food.
Eastern Congo has been plagued by conflict since the 1994 Rwandan genocide spilled across the border, fueling a struggle for control of the region’s mineral wealth. Rwanda denies U.N. allegations that it backs the M23 rebels, saying its forces are acting in self-defense against Congo’s army and allied militias.