DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Investigators have confirmed another 17 mass graves in central Congo, bringing the number to 40 discovered since clashes between soldiers and a local militia intensified in August, the United Nations human rights office said Wednesday, adding that Congolese soldiers reportedly killed at least 114 people, including 41 children. U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein says that if Congo's government doesn't investigate the recent violence effectively, he'll urge that the International Criminal Court or another outside entity investigate and prosecute the killings and reported rapes. The government has previously denied that soldiers have used disproportionate force against militia members, who are often armed with machetes and homemade rifles, and said that the militia had dug other mass graves. Hundreds of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced in the region since government troops killed the leader of the Kamwina Nsapu militia in August, according to the U.N.

Wednesday’s statement also blames militia members for some of the recent violence, including attacks on churches and government buildings, and it said the militia has been accused of recruiting hundreds of children as fighters.
At least 17 new mass graves are discovered by United Nations investigators in Kasaï-Central, Democratic Republic of the Congo, mostly around the town of Tshimbulu.