Deadly Separatist Battle in DR Congo

At least 68 people have been killed during violence in the west of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Dozens were wounded in the clashes between the police and members of Bundu Dia Kongo, a religious and political group that has its own militia.

It accuses the central government of corruption and mismanagement and is trying to establish its own authority in the west.

ongolese police killed at least two people and injured another five on Saturday during an attack on the headquarters of a separatist sect, officials said.

Police, bolstered by hundreds of reinforcements, began battling members of the ethnic-based movement Bundu dia Kongo (BDK) a week ago, pursuing militants from town to town.

Security forces launched an assault on the BDK headquarters in the capital of the western Bas-Congo province, Matadi, in the early afternoon on Saturday as sect members regrouped inside.

"The police arrived. They surrounded the neighbourhood, and when they opened fire, everyone started to run," said one witness, who asked not to be named.

Witnesses and local officials said the BDK headquarters had been burned and by late afternoon was occupied by police.

"We are at two dead and five injured," Matadi's mayor Jean-Marc Nzeyidio told Reuters from the city's main hospital. "One of the dead is a child."