8 March 2011 Last updated at 06:35 ET

DR Congo Joseph Kabila 'coup bid': Mass arrests

The events remain shrouded in mystery

Police in Democratic Republic of Congo have paraded 126 people, and weapons, they accuse of links to last month's "coup bid" against the president.

At least 19 people - 11 attackers and eight members of the security forces - were killed in the raid on Joseph Kabila's residence, police say.

Mr Kabila took power in 2001 after his father, President Laurent Kabila, was assassinated.

The president was later elected in his own right.

The BBC's Thomas Hubert in Kinshasa says many of the prisoners appeared to be severely wounded and only two or three had visibly received treatment.

Journalists were not allowed to interview the prisoners, but many of them shouted out to protest their innocence, such as one man with a deep hole in his leg.

He said he was wounded in the war and was living on the military base that came under attack and was arrested there.

The government has described the events of 27 February as an attempted coup, then as a terror attack.

Our correspondent says the events are shrouded in mystery.

In 1998, DR Congo was plunged into a war in which more than five million people died - the deadliest conflict since World War II.

The conflict formally came to an end through a peace deal in 2003, but the east of the country is still plagued by army and militia violence.

Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place in November 2011.