Several people were injured when supporters of the government and the opposition clashed in Katanga, a province in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, witnesses told AFP days before elections are due.

The clashes in Kamina, 600 kilometres (380 miles) northeast of Lubumbashi, capital of Katanga, were between backers of President Joseph Kabila and those of his main rival in the November 28 presidential election, Etienne Tshisekedi.

Ruling Unafec party militants attacked opposition UDPS supporters who had burnt a portrait of Kabila, who is seeking a second mandate in the vast, mineral-rich African nation, the witnesses said.

A number of people were hospitalised in Kamina.

Last Friday Tshisekedi's supporters clashed with ruling party faithful in Katanga where he was on a campaign tour, leaving six wounded.

Violence has broken out in several towns in DR Congo since the start of the campaign on October 28 for the November 28 one-round presidential and legislative elections.

The European Union, United States, France and the United Nations, which has a large peacekeeping contingent in the DR Congo, have urged restraint and called on all sides to refrain from inflammatory statements ahead of the polls.