Sixteen people have died and 25 remain missing after an attack in an area of western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) rocked by ethnic clashes for five months, local sources said.

"Sixteen people were killed and 25 others are missing", Kwilu province Interior Minister Jean-Claude Bwanganga said on Saturday, adding that soldiers and police had been dispatched to "hunt down these enemies".

Several homes were also torched in the town of Misia on Wednesday, he told the AFP news agency.

"Among the 16 people killed was the leader of a group" of villages, civil society leader Placide Mukwa said, explaining that attackers in nearby forest regularly target settlements.

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Dispute over taxes and land

Misia is near the town of Kwamouth, where fighting between the Yaka and Teke people has been raging since June.

The conflict has left more than 180 people dead, according to the DRC government, and the UN says tens of thousands have been displaced.

Eighteen people were killed in clashes between the Yaka and Teke in August, according to a government report seen by AFP.

The fighting broke out following a dispute over taxes and land, people in Mai-Ndombe province told AFP at the time.

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