KINSHASA (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 62 civilians in a series of massacres this week in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where the army is waging a counter-insurgency campaign against the rebels, the government said on Saturday.

The upsurge in violence after a period of relative calm in early January undercuts government claims of security progress against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan Islamist group active in Beni territory.