40 militants killed in Congolese capital
Print Edition
Congolese security forces killed at least 40 armed militants yesterday as heavy gunfire rocked several districts of the capital Kinshasa, panicking residents.
The shooting erupted at the international airport and the main military headquarters, while police said armed youths took hostage several reporters from the state television station RTNC.
Government spokesman Lambert Mende said 16 attackers had been killed at the airport, 16 at the Tshatshi military base and eight more at the RTNC premises.
The motives of the attackers was not immediately clear.
“No civilian casualties have been reported and no victims in the security forces,” Mende said, adding that the assailants had yet to be identified.
In a televised message, Mende said the “aggression” was aimed at terrorizing Kinshasa citizens.
A television station employee said the hostage takers claimed loyalty to pastor Joseph Mukungubila Mutombo, a candidate who challenged President Joseph Kabila in 2006 elections.
In an open letter dated December 5, Mukungubila expressed bitterness at the way the country was being run and showed his hate for neighboring Rwanda, which once invaded the DR Congo and is accused by the UN of backing rebels.
The pastor charged that Kabila was too close to Rwanda.
The US embassy said it had “received multiple reports of armed engagements and fighting around Kinshasa.”
“There’s panic in the city, people are asking what is happening,” a local resident said after the unrest began.
Before the RTNC feed was cut, two young presenters were seen on screen, appearing frightened but calm, with a young man standing behind them seemingly threatening them.
“An operation is under way to dislodge them,” police spokesman Colonel Mwana Mputu said.
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