At least 70 dead in militia attack in Kinsele, DR Congo

KINSHASA, DR Congo

At least 70 people, including nine soldiers and the wife of a soldier, have been killed when gunmen attacked a village in western Democratic Republic of Congo, local authorities said, as violence escalates between two rival communities.

The attack took place on Saturday in the village of Kinsele, about 100 km east of the capital, Kinshasa. Due to insecurity and poor infrastructure in the area, deadly attacks can take several days to be reported.

Kinsele is located in Kwamouth territory, where for the past two years a conflict has raged between two local communities - Teke and Yaka - resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians. As the DRC battles armed groups in the east, violence has also intensified in the west of the country.

The attackers were members of the Mobondo militia, an armed group that presents itself as the defender of the Yaka people.

"As of this morning (Monday, July 15), 72 bodies have already been recovered and the search is continuing for more bodies in the bush," David Bisaka, Kwamouth Territory MPP, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Security services on the ground are continuing to search for bodies "after the army managed to rout this militia" for the second time in a week, Bisaka said. The Mobondo militia first attempted to attack the same village on Friday.

After Saturday's attack, the bodies found included those of nine soldiers and one woman, the wife of a soldier, the head of a nearby village, Stanys Liby, told U.N.-funded Radio Okapi.

The conflict over land and customary claims in the Kwamouth territory erupted in June 2022 between so-called "indigenous" and "non-indigenous" communities, according to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch.

Tensions erupted in June 2022 over land rights and customary taxes between the Teke, the region's historical inhabitants, and farmers from various other ethnic groups, including the Yaka, who have more recently settled near the Congo River.

Despite a ceasefire concluded in April 2024 in the presence of Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi, clashes between the two communities have continued and even intensified in recent weeks, without the Congolese army managing to suppress the violence.

The military is also struggling to contain violence in the east of the country, which has been torn apart by decade-long fighting between government forces and more than 120 armed groups seeking a share of the region's gold and other resources.

Violence in the east of the country has worsened in recent months as security forces battle militias. Earlier this month, a militia attack on a gold mine in northeastern Congo killed six Chinese miners and two Congolese soldiers.