Online Desk: At least 14 people have been killed in an attack on a village in southwestern Democratic Republic of Congo near the Angolan border, authorities said on Saturday. Kwango provincial government spokesman Adelard Nkisi said the victims in Ipongi were killed by bullets and “machete blows”.

A religious leader in the village, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the toll and said the attack on Friday followed the recent arrest of militiamen, who sent another team to “free four members” of their group, AFP reports.

Symphorien Kwengo, a civil society leader in Kwango province, blamed the armed Mobondo movement, formed in neighbouring Mai-Ndombe province last year. Measures were being taken “to try to bring the situation under control”, the provincial spokesman said.

Conflict broke out in Mai-Ndombe province in June 2022 over a land dispute between the Teke people and groups not originally from the area. The fighting spread to the neighbouring provinces of Kwango, Kwilu and Kinshasa.

The United Nations estimates more than 3,000 people have been killed in the conflict between June 2022 and July 2023. The DRC’s government puts the death toll at 180, a figure unchanged since October 2022.