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The Congolese army on Thursday unveiled 23 corpses, claiming to be bodies of militants killed in action in the east, where the Islamic State also claimed an attack on the army.
The army has shown the bodies in Beni, where hundreds of civilians have been killed since 2014 during attacks attributed to a dark Islamist force called Allied Democratic Forces or ADF.
The army said the militants were ADF fighters killed in action when they launched an attack on a military base.
"Early this morning, the ADF attacked our position in the town of Ngite-Mavivi, our men reacted and inflicted a heavy loss in their ranks," AFP spokesman told AFP. Congolese army, General Leon-Richard Kasong.
The ADF, expelled from Uganda in the mid-1990s, are frequently accused by DRC authorities of attacking army positions in North Kivu province.
But later on Thursday, the group affiliated with the Islamic State for Central Africa also claimed an attack on the army "near the village of Mavivi in the Beni region", according to the group of jihadist surveillance of the SITE.
AFP was unable to immediately verify the IS claim. The relationship between the two militant Islamist groups in northern DR Congo was unclear.
Last month, the EI group declared for the first time to be behind an attack on a Congolese army position in North Kivu province.
Groups affiliated with Islamic states operate in several countries in West and Central Africa, including the Sahel, Nigeria, Chad and Niger.
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