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At least 129 people have been killed during an attempted prison escape in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

An initial assessment shows 24 inmates died when “warning” gunshots were fired at Makala Central Prison, in the capital Kinshasa, according to Congo’s interior minister, Jacquemin Shabani.

He said most of those who died were killed in a stampede during the attempted jailbreak, adding: “There are also 59 injured people taken into care by the government, as well as some cases of women raped.”

He confirmed that order has now been restored at the prison, and no one had succeeded in escaping.

Footage, reportedly from the site, shows bodies lying on the ground and inmates loading the dead into a vehicle.

Police officers outside Makala prison in Kinshasa.
Pic: AP
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Police officers outside Makala prison in Kinshasa. Pic: AP

Local residents looking on as security forces guard the prison.
Pic: AP
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Local people gathered outside the prison as security guarded the perimeter. Pic: AP

The breakout occurred around 2am (also 2am UK time) on Monday with residents hearing heavy gunfire from the jail.

Part of the site was also damaged by fire in the attack.

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The attempted escape was plotted from inside the prison by inmates in one of the wings, Mbemba Kabuya, the deputy justice minister told local radio station, Top Congo FM.

In the hours that followed the attack, the road to the prison was cordoned off while authorities convened a panel to investigate the incident.

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Makala – among other prisons in Congo – is massively overcrowded according to Amnesty International.

Prisoners attend the releasing ceremony at Makala central prison, the largest jail where they will be released to reduce overcrowding, after videos showing prisoners living in deplorable conditions were posted on social media. Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo July 27, 2024. REUTERS/Justin Makangara
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In July 2024, inmates were released at Makala Central Prison to reduce overcrowding. File pic: Reuters

Prisoners clean pans and containers at Makala central prison
File pic: Reuters
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Inside the overcrowded Makala Central Prison. File pic: Reuters

The human rights group says the country’s largest jail has a capacity for 1,500 people, but holds over 12,000 inmates who are mostly awaiting trial.

Scores of inmates have been released this year as part of efforts to reduce the prison population.

The facility has recorded previous jailbreaks, including in 2017 when an attack by a religious sect freed dozens.

Justice minister Constant Mutamba called the attack a “premeditated act of sabotage,” adding those who “instigated these acts of sabotage… will receive a stern response”.

He also announced a ban on the transfer of inmates from the prison and said authorities will build a new jail, among other efforts to reduce overcrowding.

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Every shop and home burned or ransacked: The Syrian city engulfed in tribal violence

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Every shop and home burned or ransacked: The Syrian city engulfed in tribal violence

The Syrian presidency has announced it’s assembling a special taskforce to try to stop nearly a week of sectarian clashes in the southern Druze city of Sweida.

The presidency called for restraint on all sides and said it is making strenuous efforts to “stop the fighting and curb the violations that threaten the security of the citizens and the safety of society”.

By early Saturday morning, a ceasefire had been confirmed by the US special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, who posted on X that Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to a ceasefire supported by US secretary of state Marco Rubio.

The post went on to state that this agreement had the support of “Turkey, Jordan and its neighbours” and called upon the Druze, Bedouins, and Sunni factions to put down their arms.

Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford reports from the road leading to Sweida, the city that has become the epicentre of Syria’s sectarian violence.

For the past 24 hours, we’ve watched as Syria‘s multiple Arab tribes began mobilising in the Sweida province to help defend their Bedouin brethren.

A fighter aims a gun
A body is wrapped in a blanket

Thousands travelled from multiple different Syrian areas and had reached the edge of Sweida city by Friday nightfall after a day of almost non-stop violent clashes and killings.

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“We have come to protect the [Arab] Bedouin women and children who are being terrorised by the Druze,” they told us.

A fighter in Syria
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Arab fighters said they had come to protect the Bedouin women and children

Fighters at a gas station
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Fighters at a petrol station

Every shop and every home in the streets leading up to Sweida city has been burned or ransacked, the contents destroyed or looted.

We saw tribal fighters loading the back of pickup trucks and driving away from the city with vehicles packed with looted goods from Druze homes.

A burning building
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Shops and homes leading up to Sweida city have been burned or ransacked

A burned out car

Several videos posted online showed violence against the Druze, including one where tribal fighters force three men to throw themselves off a high-rise balcony and are seen being shot as they do so.

Doctors at the nearby community hospital in Buser al Harir said there had been a constant stream of casualties being brought in. As we watched, another dead fighter was carried out of an ambulance.

The medics estimated there had been more than 600 dead in their area alone. “The youngest child who was killed was a one-and-a-half-year-old baby,” one doctor told us.

A doctor talks to Sky's Alex Crawford
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Doctors said there had been a constant stream of casualties due to violence

The violence is the most dangerous outbreak of sectarian clashes since the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime last December – and the most serious challenge for the new leader to navigate.

The newly brokered deal is aimed at ending the sectarian killings and restoring some sort of stability in a country which is emerging from more than a decade of civil war.

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Israel and Syria agree to ceasefire, says US ambassador to Turkey

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Israel and Syria agree to ceasefire, says US ambassador to Turkey

Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire, the US ambassador to Turkey has said.

Several hundred people have reportedly been killed this week in the south of Syria in violence involving local fighters, government authorities and Bedouin tribes.

As the violence escalated in the southern province of Sweida, Israel launched airstrikes, including attacks on Wednesday on the defence ministry in Damascus and a target near the presidential palace.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said it aimed to protect Syrian Druze – part of a small but influential minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel.

Clashes between Bedouin and Druze groups further tensions in the Middle East

In a post on X, the US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, said Israel and Syria had agreed to a ceasefire supported by Turkey, Jordan and others.

“We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity,” Mr Barrack said in a post on X.

The Israeli embassy in Washington and Syrian Consulate in Canada did not immediately comment or respond to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency.

The ceasefire announcement came after the US worked to put an end to the conflict, with secretary of state Marco Rubio saying on Wednesday that steps had been agreed to end a “troubling and horrifying situation”.

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Why is Israel bombing Syria?

After Israel warned it would destroy forces attacking Syrian Druze, Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa told the minority group in a televised statement on Thursday that “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.

He then claimed Israel has “consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime”.

It comes after the United Nations’ migration agency said earlier on Friday that nearly 80,000 people had been displaced in the region since violence broke out on Sunday.

It also said that essential services, including water and electricity, had collapsed in Sweida, telecommunications systems were widely disrupted, and health facilities in Sweida and Daraa were under severe strain.

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‘Horrific incident’ at sheriff training facility in LA – at least three people dead

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'Horrific incident' at sheriff training facility in LA - at least three people dead

At least three people have been killed after a “horrific incident” at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility, officials have said.

A spokesperson for the department said there was an explosion at the Biscailuz Center Academy Training in east LA.

The incident was reported at around 7.30am local time (3.30pm UK time).

Aerial footage from local channel KABC-TV suggests the blast happened in a parking lot filled with sheriff patrol cars and box trucks.

The Eugene Biscailuz Center Academy Training in East Los Angeles. Pic: NBC Los Angeles
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The training centre in east LA. Pic: NBC Los Angeles

Attorney general Pam Bondi wrote on X: “I just spoke to @USAttyEssayli about what appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles.

“Our federal agents are at the scene and we are working to learn more.”

California congressman Jimmy Sanchez said the explosion had “claimed the lives of at least three deputies”.

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“My condolences to the families and everyone impacted by this loss,” he said.

Media and law enforcement stage near the site of an explosion at the LA County Sheriff's Special Operations Bureau on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
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Media and law enforcement officials near the explosion site. Pic: AP

The attorney general said in a follow-up post that agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are “on the ground to support”.

The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, said the LAPD bomb squad has also responded to the scene.

“The thoughts of all Angelenos are with all of those impacted by this blast,” she said.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the incident, his press office said in a post on X.

“The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is in contact with the Sheriff’s Department and closely monitoring the situation, and has offered full state assistance,” it added.

The cause of the explosion is being investigated.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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