The flag of the ISIS terrorist group. Image: Reuters/Alaa Al-Marjani/File Photo.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on a village this week in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a statement published Friday on its affiliated Telegram channels.

Residents of Kalembo village told Reuters that rebels killed 16 people and torched houses in an attack on Wednesday that a local human rights group blamed on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan terrorist group active in the region.

The statement said Islamic State was responsible for the attack in the village about 40 km (25 miles) east of the city of Beni.

The ADF has operated in the dense forests near the Ugandan border for more than three decades and began killing civilians in large numbers in 2014.

The group has publicly aligned itself with Islamic State, but a June report from the United Nations found no evidence of direct support from Islamic State to the ADF.