Kikwit, DR Congo (AFP) — Dozens of people were killed in clashes between Congolese soldiers and militiamen in a village in western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), local sources said Sunday.

The death toll in the village of Kinsele “has already reached 42 ‘Mobondo’ militiamen, nine soldiers and one woman,” David Bisaka, a lawmaker for the local province, told AFP.

The Mobondo are considered part of the Yaka community who settled in areas along the Congo River, where the Teke people consider themselves the rightful owners of villages along the river.

“We are collecting the bodies,” Bisaka said, adding that the bodies of the soldiers “have already been taken to the morgues in Kinshasa” and that “those of the militiamen are still lying on the ground in Kinsele.”

A security source in the province put the overall death toll at 41.

He added that the deadly confrontation came at a time when the area, on the outskirts of Kinshasa, has been experiencing a resurgence of violence in recent days.

Since mid-2023, the government has banned reporters from investigating the conflict in the region.

Previously, several teams of journalists have been prevented by the Congolese security services from entering the province.

Reports from the area where Saturday’s attack took place differ as to the circumstances.

Some accuse the Mobondo of launching an assault on the DRC army’s position at Kinsele, during which militiamen were killed.

Others say DRC troops launched an operation in recent days in response to incursions by Mobondo militiamen around Kinsele.

A government official stationed in Kinsele said on condition of anonymity that at around 5 a.m. (0400 GMT) on Saturday, Mobondo fighters “attacked the DRC armed forces,” whom they accused of having “taken sides with the Teke people.”

Land disputes can frequently turn deadly in DRC, a vast but impoverished central African country of about 100 million people.