CONGO – 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 (9 p.m. ET) 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. 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. (CNN)…[+]