70 killed in militia attack in western DR Congo

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At least 70 people, including nine soldiers and a soldier's wife, were killed when armed men attacked a village in western Democratic Republic of Congo, local authorities said, as violence intensifies between two rival communities.

The attack took place on Saturday in the village of Kinsele, around 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Kinshasa, the capital. Because of insecurity and poor infrastructure in the region, deadly attacks can take days to be reported.

Kinsele is in the Kwamouth territory, where for the past two years conflict has raged between two local communities ? Teke and Yaka ? leading to the deaths of hundreds of civilians.

As Congo battles armed groups in the east, violence has also intensified in the western part of the country.

The attackers were members of the Mobondo militia, an armed group presenting itself as defenders of the Yaka people.

"As of [Monday], 72 bodies have already been found and the search continues to find other bodies in the bush," David Bisaka, the provincial deputy for the Kwamouth territory, told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

Security services on site continue to search for the bodies "after the army succeeded in routing this militia" for the second time in a week, Bisaka said. The Mobondo militia first tried to attack the same village on Friday.

Following Saturday's attack, the bodies found included those of nine soldiers and one woman, the wife of a soldier, the head of a nearby village, Stanys Liby, told the U.N.-funded Radio Okapi.