Congo security forces kill at least 14 in clashes with anti-govt sect

Congolese security forces killed at least 14 members of separatist sect Bundu dia Kongo (BDK) on Monday during clashes in the capital Kinshasa and southwestern city of Matadi, police said.

The clashes followed an attack by BDK members on Kinshasa's main prison and demonstrations by other members against Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa, Matadi and the southwestern city of Boma, witnesses and security sources said.

A series of large-scale prison breaks across Congo in the past few months has aggravated widespread insecurity since Kabila refused to step down from power after his mandate expired in December.

BDK leader and self-styled prophet Ne Muanda Nsemi escaped from prison in May and had called on his supporters to rise up this Monday against Kabila, whom Nsemi accuses of being Rwandan - a common slur by the president's opponents.

Police spokesman Pierrot Mwanamputu said in a statement that 12 BDK assailants in Kinshasa, armed with calibre-12 rifles and bladed weapons, were killed by "stray bullets" fired by security forces to disperse them.

Two others were killed in the southwestern town of Matadi, where three police officers were also injured, he added.

One security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also told Reuters that two army officers had been killed in Kinshasa.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)