Three members of the United Nation's peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo were kidnapped Thursday in the eastern North Kivu province, a U.N. source said.

"Three members of MONUSCO (the 20,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force)... have been kidnapped in Kibumba", some 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the provincial capital Goma, the source told AFP.

After days of deadly protests, the Democratic Republic of Congo's Senate backed down Friday on a hotly-contested electoral bill enabling President Joseph Kabila to extend his hold on power. 

Senators voted unanimously to amend the bill, already passed by the lower house of parliament last weekend, by dropping a provision tying 2016 presidential and legislative elections to a census expected to be years from completion.

Fresh clashes erupted Tuesday as demonstrators rampaged in the Democratic Republic of Congo a day after deadly protests over a draft law that would enable President Joseph Kabila to extend his stay in power.

Hundreds of youths torched a town hall in Ngaba, a southern neighborhood of the capital Kinshasa, while several prisoners escaped from a neighboring building. Looters also made off with police guns stored at the site.

A rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo killed six government soldiers on Wednesday during an attack on the army and the U.N. mission MONUSCO.

The attack was carried out by the Alliance for a Free and Sovereign Congo (APCLS) in the Nyabondo area, around 70 kilometers (45 miles) north of the regional hub Goma in the restive province of North Kivu.

Congolese security forces repelled a wave of coordinated attacks against symbols of power in the capital Kinshasa and other cities on Monday, leaving dozens of assailants dead in a day of fierce gunbattles.

Armed youths believed to be loyal to a pastor who challenged President Joseph Kabila in elections seven years ago stormed the state television station RTNC and took several reporters hostage.

Heavy gunfire erupted Monday in several parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa, where the government said 40 assailants were killed by security forces.

The shooting erupted at the international airport and a military headquarters, causing panic among residents, while police said armed youths had taken hostage several reporters from the state television station RTNC.

Leaders of French-speaking nations ended a summit Sunday by calling for an overhaul of the U.N. Security Council to give Africa better representation, while host country Democratic Republic of Congo was forced to defend its rights record.

Speaking at the end of the 14th Francophonie summit, held in the Congolese capital Kinshasa, participants said Africa -- with its one billion people -- needed a stronger voice in international dialogue.

Leaders from the 75-nation Francophonie were to begin their biennial summit Friday in DR Congo, a country that encapsulates Africa's many woes but also its growing stake in a body searching for a raison d'etre.

The Organization Internationale de la Francophonie's decision to hold its 14th summit in Kinshasa raised eyebrows given the government's poor democratic credentials and human rights record.

Huge explosions rocked a munitions depot in the Republic of Congo's capital Brazzaville Sunday, killing at least 100 people and leaving hundreds of others injured, the government said.

A European diplomat said earlier that at least 150 bodies had piled up in military hospitals in the city and that more than 1,500 people had been injured in the blasts.

Four people were killed in Kinshasa Friday and Saturday in unrest that followed the announcement of DR Congo President Joseph Kabila's re-election, the national police chief said.

The victims were three looters who were shot by security forces and a woman hit by a stray bullet, General Charles Bisengimana told reporters.