According to local officials, armed men attacked a community in the western Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 70 people, including nine soldiers, as fighting between two rival groups escalated.
The incident occurred on Saturday in Kinsele, around 100 kilometers east of Kinshasa, the capital. Because of the region's instability and inadequate infrastructure, reports of deadly assaults might take days.
Kinsele is located in the Kwamouth area, where a battle between two local groups — Teke and Yaka — has killed hundreds of residents over the last two years.
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The assailants were members of the Mobondo militia, an armed organization that claims to defend the Yaka people.
"As of [Monday], 72 bodies have already been found, and the search continues to find other bodies in the bush," said David Bisaka, the provincial deputy for the Kwamouth area.
Security personnel on the scene are still looking for the dead "after the army succeeded in routing this militia" for the second time in a week, Bisaka reported. The Mobondo militia initially attempted to invade the same area on Friday.
The bodies discovered after Saturday's raid included those of nine troops and one lady.
According to Human Rights Watch, the fight over land and customary rights in the Kwamouth area erupted in June 2022 between so-called "native" and "nonnative" people.
Tensions erupted in June 2022 about land rights and customary taxes between the Teke, the region's traditional residents, and farmers from several other ethnic groups, notably the Yaka, who moved along the Congo River more recently.
Despite a cease-fire signed in April 2024 in the presence of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, confrontations between the two villages have persisted and have worsened in recent weeks, with the Congolese army failing to halt the bloodshed.
The army is also battling to stop the violence in the eastern region of the nation.
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