M23 rebels raped women during killings - Amnesty

According to a recent Amnesty International report, during a wave of violence in which they are accused of seeking out and murdering men, M23 rebels are responsible for sexually assaulting over 66 women and girls, mostly in the Kishishe village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in November of last year.

The most recent report adds to a growing list of war crimes that fighting factions in the long-running conflict are claimed to have perpetrated. M23 disputes the allegations.

According to the report, the rebel group's members murdered at least 20 males and sexually assaulted several women and girls, mostly in the small town of Kishishe, which is 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of the province capital Goma.

In the interviews, some of which the BBC has seen, women narrate how rebels attacked the village, broke into their homes, raped them and killed their men.

An anonymous regional official told the BBC that he saw the women and children running away and shared Amnesty International's fears that victims of sexual assault were not receiving adequate medical care beyond first aid kits.

The M23, however, denies that its soldiers violated women in Kishishe.

Bertrand Bisimwa, the chairman of M23, denounced the accusations as misinformation and told the BBC that his organization demands an impartial investigation to determine what transpired.

Amnesty International thinks that M23 committed these crimes as part of a campaign to punish and degrade civilians who they believed to be members of opposing armed groups.

The UN estimates that at least 131 civilians were killed in the massacre from the previous year, which included these strikes.