Gunfire heard near Congo Kinshasa jail; military parade cancelled

Gunfire rang out near a small jail in Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa on Thursday afternoon, hours after the government said it had cancelled a major independence day military parade for security reasons.

The army and police surrounded the jail in the Matonge neighbourhood of Kinshasa after witnesses said that shots had rung out. The cause of the gunfire was not clear.

"There was gunfire. I saw a woman wounded in her leg by a bullet," said one witness who asked not to be named.

Government and local officials were not immediately available for comment.

Thousands of inmates have escaped from jails this year in Congo, including about 4,000 from the capital Kinshasa's main high-security prison last month, stoking fears that the security situation is deteriorating amid a growing political crisis.

Rising militia violence and a humanitarian crisis have unsettled Africa's largest copper producer in recent months.

Kabila, in power since 2001, refused to step down at the end of his mandate in December, raising fears of a return to the civil wars of the turn of the century that killed millions.

Fighting between government forces and a local militia in the central Kasai region has killed more than 3,300 people and forced 1.3 million to flee their homes since August.

Congo will not hold its annual independence day military parade on Friday because of security concerns, an adviser to President Joseph Kabila told Reuters on Thursday morning.

Independence day parades have been held in each of the last three years to mark the end of Belgian colonial rule in 1960 and have been used to show off the Central African country's latest arms acquisitions.

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