Kinshasa - Unknown attackers killed a
police officer during a raid on a jail in Democratic Republic of
Congo's capital Kinshasa on Thursday, police and diplomatic
sources told Reuters.
The raid took place just hours after the government said it
had cancelled a major independence day military parade for
security reasons.
It was not clear how the officer died, but gunfire was heard
at the jail in the Matonge neighbourhood and dozens of
heavily-armed police and soldiers were deployed to the area.
Security was also reinforced around the state television
building several kilometres away.
Sources were unable to say if any prisoners escaped.
Government and local officials were not immediately available
for comment.
"There was gunfire. I saw a woman wounded in her leg by a
bullet," said one witness who asked not to be named.
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.
President Joseph 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.
Rising militia violence and a humanitarian crisis have
unsettled Africa's largest copper producer in recent months.
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
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.
Authorities ramped up security following the jail breaks,
installing night-time checkpoints in Kinshasa's business
district of Gombe.