Militia fighters decapitate some 40 police officers in Congo ambush

KINSHASA: Militia fighters decapitated about 40 police officers after an ambush in central Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials said on Saturday, the deadliest attack on security forces since an insurgency erupted in the region last year.

The Kamuina Nsapu militants struck on Friday as the police convoy drove from the city of Tshikapa in Kasai province to Kananga, the capital of KasaiCentral province, said Francois Madila Kalamba, speaker of the Kasai provincial assembly.

“They were apprehended by the militia members and they decapitated about 40,” Kalamba told Reuters.

He added that witnesses said the fighters spared the lives of six police officers because they spoke the local Tshiluba language.

The militia fighters, who are often armed with machetes but rarely carry firearms, made off with arms and vehicles during the raid, Kalamba added.

Corneil Mbombo, president of the Civil Society of Kasai, a provincial activist group, also said about 40 officers had been decapitated following the ambush.

The provincial governor and national police spokesman could not be reached for comment.

The insurgency, which has spread to five provinces, poses the most serious threat yet to the rule of President Joseph Kabila, whose failure to step down at the end of his constitutional mandate in December was followed by a wave of killings and lawlessness across the vast central African nation. — Reuters