KINSHASA: An attempted jail break at the Democratic Republic of Congo's largest and chronically overcrowded prison this week has left at least 129 people dead, the interior minister said Tuesday.

The circumstances around the bid to bust out of Makala prison in the capital Kinshasa in the early hours of Monday remain unclear.

But Interior Minister Jacquemain Shabani in a statement released by video to the media on Tuesday announced a provisional death toll of 129 people.

They included "24 who were shot after warnings", he said.

At least 59 others had been wounded and were receiving care, he added.

Witnesses told AFP that they had heard gunfire at around 2:00am on Monday and that it lasted for several hours in the area of the prison, a popular and residential neighbourhood.

On Monday, police had cordoned off the streets leading to the prison, AFP journalists at the scene saw.

The interior minister said many people had been crushed or suffocated and that a number of women had been raped. He gave no details on their identities.

On Monday morning, government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said only that the security services were at the scene and he called on residents to "not panic".

A few hours later, he told national television the situation was "under control".

Makala prison, the biggest in the vast central African nation, has capacity for 1,500 inmates.

With between 14,000 and 15,000 prisoners, it holds around 10 times the number it is meant to house, according to official statistics.