Fighting between Democratic Republic of Congo troops and guards of opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba has killed at least seven people in the past two days, UN-sponsored Radio Okapi reported Friday.
According to the radio, a woman and her child were killed when a shell hit a residence in Bandalungwa, a neighbourhood in the northeast of the capital. Citing hospital sources around Kinshasa, the radio reported five other deaths and several wounded, some seriously.
The head of the capital's General Hospital, Dieudonne Diabeno, could not confirm any dead to AFP but said there were some 10 wounded, including three soldiers in serious condition. A Western security official said he had seen "four or five" bodies of Bemba loyalists near his home in the Gombe district, while the spokesman for the UN mission in the country (MONUC), Lieutenant-Colonel Didier Rancher, said "many" wounded were being evacuated.
In Paris foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said two French nationals had been wounded by stray bullets but their lives were not in danger.