"Five civilians and two FARDC soldiers (from the DRC armed forces) were killed yesterday... during an attack attributed to the ADF," on the Mbau-Kamango road in the Beni region of North Kivu province, the Kivu Security Tracker (KST) expert group posted on Twitter.

"A FARDC captain was among the victims," the KST added.

Beni regional administrator Donat Kibwana confirmed the same toll to AFP, although regional army spokesman Antony Mualushayi said "seven civilians and one soldier" had been killed.

Currently under repair by Congolese military engineers, the Mbau-Kamango road is a busy supply route across the highly unstable region.

Dozens of armed groups of varying size have been active across the eastern DRC for almost 30 years.

The ADF outfit believed behind Tuesday's attack is a made up of Ugandan Muslim rebels who have been in the country since the 1990s.

Since 2014, the ADF has increasingly attacked civilians, inflicting more than 1,000 deaths despite regular army operations attempting to stamp them out since the end of last year.