GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) - An overnight attack by suspected Ugandan rebels in the area of Beni in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has left 14 people dead, authorities said Sunday.

The attack in the village of Oicha in North Kivu province was confirmed by a military spokesman and a local official.

More than 200 people have been killed in a series of massacres in Beni and the surrounding area blamed on the Allied Democratic Forces and National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU).

Town chief Jean-Baptiste Kamabu, reached by telephone from the North Kivu capital Goma, said the assailants wielded machetes and axes.

He said two people were wounded and another two were abducted.

Celestin Ngeleka, spokesman of a military operation against armed groups in the region, confirmed the death toll of 14, which he said could rise.

Soldiers are still searching the area and could "find other cadavers", he said.