Dozens of people were killed after Congolese soldiers repulsed attacks on the airport, a barracks and the state television headquarters in Kinshasa on Monday in what authorities said appeared to have been an assault by followers of religious leader Paul Joseph Mukungubila.

Several bodies lay on the ground at the entrance and behind the building of the Ministry of Defence in Kinshasa, after it was attacked on Monday. Witnesses also reported shooting at the Tshatshi military camp, close to the Defence Ministry, and at the international airport on the city’s outskirts.

Before transmission was shut down at the state television, gunmen shouted what appeared to be a political message against President Joseph Kabila, who took office in 2001 after the assassination of his father Laurent.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende said 40 of the 70 assailants in the capital had been killed, adding the government had “total control of the situation.”

Kabila’s supporters said the assault was carried out by poorly organised youths in civilian clothing with aged military equipment and appeared to be more a political statement than a serious attempt to seize power in a city of more than 9 million people.

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