At least 129 killed during mass prison break attempt in DR Congo

(CNN) — More than 120 people have been killed in an attempted mass breakout from the largest prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the latest in a series of violent attacks on jails in the central African nation.

Prisoners tried to break out en masse from the Makala Central Prison in the capital, Kinshasa, at around 2 a.m. local time (7 p.m. MDT) on Monday, Interior Minister Jacquemain Shabani Lukoo Bihango told reporters.

“The provisional human toll stands at 129 dead including 24 by gunshot after warning. The others died by jostling, suffocation and some women were raped,” Bihango said. He added that 59 people were receiving medical care.

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One Kinshasa resident, Daddi Soso, told Agence France-Presse that gunfire rang out for several hours during the incident and that he later saw security vehicles removing bodies from the scene.

A series of graphic videos circulating on social media — not verified by CNN — showed dozens of bloodied corpses on the ground.

Extensive damage to several prison buildings was also seen in interior ministry video. A large hole is shown in one exterior wall, where bricks appear to have been removed, while the walls of other buildings are black and burnt out.

Video filmed inside the prison showed several ransacked rooms with debris, burnt office furniture and papers strewn across the floor.

Several prison buildings including offices, the registry, the infirmary and food depots were destroyed by fires during the attempted prison break, the minister told the press conference.

Interior minister Bihango convened a crisis meeting of the country’s defense and security services on Tuesday after receiving instructions from the country’s “senior hierarchy.”

The government is relieved “by the restored calm,” he said, adding that investigations into the incident are ongoing.

More than 12,000 inmates, mostly pretrial detainees, were held in the Makala prison before the attempted jailbreak even though the facility could only contain 1,500 people, according to a recent report by Amnesty International which highlighted the “appalling” detention conditions at the facility.

In a statement on social media Monday, Justice Minister Constant Mutamba condemned the prison break attempt as a “pre-meditated act of sabotage.”

Mutamba barred public prosecutors from transferring any inmates to Makala prison “until further notice” as part of a series of measures he announced to tackle overcrowding at the country’s prisons.

Prison breaks are common in the DRC, with several attacks being launched on correctional facilities in recent years.

More than 50 inmates, including the leader of a religious sect, broke free from the Makala prison in 2017 following an invasion by the group.

And in 2020, a rebel group linked to ISIS claimed responsibility for a jailbreak that freed nearly 1,000 inmates from a prison in Beni, in northeastern DRC. At least 11 people, including security personnel, were killed in that attack.

Another prison break was recorded the following year at Matadi, one of the country’s oldest prisons, which saw the escape of 189 prisoners. More than 200 other detainees escaped from the same prison in 2022 after seizing weapons from the facility’s armory.

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Contributing: Larry Madowo and Henry Zeris, CNN