KINSHASA, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's army said on Thursday it had killed at least 35 fighters loyal to renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda during a gunbattle in the central African country's lawless, mineral-rich east.

"They left behind 35 bodies on the battlefield and took away others," Colonel Delphin Kahimbi, commander of operations for Congo's army in North Kivu province, told Reuters. He said the clash happened just north of the town of Ngungu.

There was no immediate independent confirmation of the casualties.

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