DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The Rwanda-backed rebel group M23 has denied involvement in a series of massacres in eastern Congo which were detailed in a report published by a rights group Wednesday.

Lawrence Kanyuka, spokesperson for the M23 military, called the Human Rights Watch report “fake and a falsification of reality” and accused the group of spreading “extremist propaganda” in a statement late Wednesday.

M23 is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups fighting for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east.

Both M23 and the Congolese military have previously been accused of violence against civilians. Earlier this year, Congolese authorities accused M23 of extrajudicial killings during its seizure of major cities.

In the report, Human Rights Watch accused M23 of killing over 140 civ

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