Dozens of mass graves of civilians have been found in the restive east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to an official of the UN mission in the region.UN spokesman, Farhan Haq said peacekeepers combing the volatile Ituri region have uncovered at least several dozen mass burial sites containing the bodies of 42 people some of them women and children.

The victims almost certainly all civilians may have been killed during recent unrest in Ituri which is infested with armed militias.

According to the UN official, most the bodies were found in sites in and around the village of Nyamamba.

There was also a mass grave holding seven bodies of male victims in the village of Mbogi near where skirmishes had taken place in recent months between cattle herders and farmers belonging to the Hema and Lendu communities respectively.

The area where the mass graves were found is some 30 kilometers east of the Ituri provincial capital Bunia.

 Haq said MONUSCO peackeepers had launched an investigation in the area in recent days after being tipped off about a possible massacre of civilians. 

Witnesses had named CODECO gunmen as being behind the killings which reportedly took place last weekend. 

The finds coincides with continuing tension in eastern DR Congo where a rebellion involving the M23 rebel movement against the regular Congolese army still rages.