Nearly 1,000 prisoners have escaped from a jail in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after it was attacked by armed men, officials say.

刚果民众共和国官员称，东部一座监狱被武装人员袭击，将近1000名囚犯越狱。

The attackers wanted to free a militia¹ leader, Katanga province Information Minister Dkianga Kazadi said.

Escapes and mutinies（兵变，叛乱） are common in DR Congo's prisons, analysts² say, with the east largely lawless as rival militias³ battle for power.

Nearly 200 prisoners escaped from a jail in the north-west last year.

Mr Kazadi said masked gunmen entered the prison in Katanga's main city unnoticed.

"They opened fire on the police and the military guards, killing⁴ two," he said, according to the AFP news agency.

The UN spokesman in DR Congo, Madnodje Mounoubai, told the BBC that a former commander of the Mai Mai militia movement, Gedeon Kyungu Mutanga, had escaped.

Mutanga was sentenced to death in 2009 for his role in the long-running conflict in eastern DR Congo.

Mr Kazadi said police had recaptured 152 of the 967 prisoners who had escaped.

Mr Mounoubai said Mutanga was still on the run.

"Gedeon is among those unaccounted for（下落不明的） ," he said.