GOMA, DR Congo, Dec 11, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Amnesty International in a statement Wednesday accused senior Congolese army officers of "possible crimes against humanity" in a massacre in the northeastern city of Goma that killed 56 people last year.

Elite troops from the Republic Guard stormed the temple of a mystic religious group in the North Kivu capital Goma on August 30, 2023, an area embroiled in armed violence for three decades.

Most of the victims were members of the Natural Judaic and Messianic Faith Towards the Nations, whose leader had called a protest to demand the departure of foreign NGOs and the UN force from the area.

"Authorities said 56 people were killed, but a confidential UN report seen by Amnesty put the number at 102, including 90 men, eight women and four boys, and 80 more injured," the rights group said, adding that 10 more could be missing.

Amnesty said it had "identified three army officers who should be individually investigated -- and with sufficient evidence, prosecuted -- for possible crimes against humanity".

The officers named were Constant Ndima Kongba, the former military governor of North Kivu province, Colonel Mike Mikombe Kalamba, a Republican Guard commander, and Major Peter Kabwe Ngandu, who reported to Mikombe during the operation.

A Congolese court in October 2023 sentenced Mikombe to death and three other soldiers to 10 years in prison for murder.

"Amnesty International demands the UN Department of Peace Operations swiftly initiates an independent inquiry into MONUSCO's role, including by its leadership -- and publicise their findings," the report added, referring to the UN peacekeeping mission.

The Christian-animist group in late August told AFP it had tallied 103 killed in the massacre.

Eastern DRC has been ravaged by militia violence for three decades, a legacy of regional wars that flared in the 1990s and 2000s.