DR Congo Clashes Leave 40 Dead

Violent clashes between rebels and soldiers in the restive east of the Democratic Republic of Congo have left 40 people dead, government and military officials said Thursday.

Fighting broke out between Mai-Mai militia and government troops on Wednesday in the town of Beni, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, Colonel Richard Bisamaza said.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende told a press conference that 32 militia fighters were killed as well as eight soldiers.

Bisamaza earlier told Agence France Presse the Mai Mai -- a generic term for a number of local militia groups -- attacked army buildings to try to free a number of their colleagues who had been arrested and were being held there.

However, they fled after an hour of exchanging gunfire.

North Kivu lies in unstable eastern DR Congo, and is dominated by armed movements including the M23 rebels, a group the United Nations suspects of receiving financial support from Rwanda and Uganda. Both countries deny the accusation.

With government attention focused over the past year on battling the M23, other militia such as the Mai Mai -- which come from a force known as Katakatanga seeking the secession of Katanga province -- have been able to proliferate in both North Kivu and neighboring South Kivu province.

DR Congo has ramped up its efforts to tackle these armed movements.

The first troops of a 3,000-strong African intervention brigade created by the U.N. Security Council to take on the armed groups, arrived in the country earlier this week.

The brigade will assist the U.N. force known as MONUSCO already present in the country.

While MONUSCO has a mandate to protect civilians, the intervention brigade is the first to be given an offensive mandate.