A notorious militia has killed nearly 800 civilians in eastern DR Congo since the start of last year, the UN said on Monday, adding that the attacks may amount to crimes against humanity.

The Islamist ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) has committed “widespread, systematic and extremely brutal” rights abuses, according to a report by the UN’s Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) in DR Congo.

Between January 1 last year and January 1 this year, the report documented the killing of 496 civilians — 142 women, 25 children and 329 men.

“The majority of the victims were killed using bladed weapons or were shot,” it added.

Over that period, human rights cases attributed to the ADF — killings, abductions, forced labour and attacks against hospitals and schools — rose by 67 percent compared with the previous year.

The bloodshed has continued this year, the report said, with 297 people killed between February 1 and June 30.