An official in the Democratic Republic of Congo says gunmen have attacked a jail in the southeastern state of Katanga, killing two people and allowing nearly 1,000 prisoners to escape.

Katanga's interior minister, Dikanga Kazadi, says eight assailants attacked guards at the prison in the city of Lubumbashi on Wednesday, in a bid to free a jailed rebel leader. The official says one of the two people killed was a guard, while the other was visitor to the jail.

Kazadi said 967 prisoners escaped, including rebel leader Gedeon Mutanga, convicted of crimes against humanity by a Congolese military court in 2009.

He said police later recaptured about 150 of the inmates.

Mutanga is a former leader of a Mai Mai militia in Katanga, a major Congolese mining hub.